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Plans and tasks of French spy network revealed - Martin Ryan's trial

13 March 2025 18:40 (UTC +04:00)

The next hearing has been held in the criminal case of Martin Ryan and Azad Mammadli, who are accused of espionage for France, as part of the criminal case initiated by the State Security Service of the Republic of Azerbaijan, APA reports.

During the trial held at the Baku Grave Crimes Court under the chairmanship of Judge Elmin Rustamov, the accused Martin Ryan answered questions from the state prosecutor.

The defendant stated in response to the prosecutor's question, "What was the purpose of your first visit to Azerbaijan?" that he came to Azerbaijan to start a business: "I met a person named Emin Suleymanov here. I kept in regular contact with him. After a while, my contact with him was cut off. He was organizing meetings between French companies operating here and Azerbaijani companies. He needed someone here. I was offered this opportunity, and at the time, I was unemployed. Despite being unemployed, I had money. I saw this as an opportunity for myself and gave a positive response to the job offer."

In response to the State Prosecutor's question, "Why did you contact the French Embassy?" Martin Ryan said that his work required it: "My acquaintance with the employees of the French Embassy dates back to 2015. I wanted to establish a business for myself in Azerbaijan. For that, I needed connections. I met Ramin Mammadov, and we started a business together. We were attracting French companies to Azerbaijan. Our work was going well. Later, I met Frederik Devos. He told me that he was currently working on two important tasks.

He was conducting geostrategic analyses. These analyses were mainly related to Iran.

Another issue was the protection of the safety of the French citizens living in Azerbaijan.

These things seemed suspicious to me because ensuring the safety of French citizens in Azerbaijan is the job of the embassy. During the meeting, he took a photo from his pocket and told me that this person is a Russian citizen. He was expelled from France and had been in Kazakhstan. He might be in Azerbaijan as well. Additionally, he informed me that both Iranian and Russian companies are dangerous. He spoke about suspicious matters concerning Iran and Russia and instructed me to be cautious about them. He also told me to report to him if I encountered any suspicious situations. At the same time, he asked me to introduce him to the Azerbaijani citizens I knew."

The accused stated that Devos asked him to talk about the conflicting issues between Azerbaijan and Armenia: "On October 4, 2020, diplomatic relations between France and Azerbaijan became tense. He asked me questions about the power differences, weapons, and the country's situation during the war, as well as about Türkiye and Pakistan. He wanted me to share any videos I had with him. I realized that these questions were intended to fuel the Armenian agenda. Imagine, he asked so many questions about Türkiye and Pakistan, wanting to gather information, he didn’t ask as many questions about Armenia, Iran, and Russia. Attention was focused on the countries that support Azerbaijan. I became suspicious of this. That's why I was focused on my own work. I would go to pavilions, trying to establish connections with foreign companies. We were particularly interested in Iranian companies, and we had established connections with many Iranian companies."

The accused responded to the prosecutor's question, “Did you introduce Azerbaijani individuals to him?” as follows: “I introduced Zaur Mustafayev to Frederik Devos. Later, Azad Mammadali started handling these matters. He was very good at it because he had certain purposes. After that, he wanted to meet a businessman named Ilqar.

Ilqar's wife was well acquainted with Devos’s partner. Both women worked at the 'Bakou Francophones' Association. I knew Ilqar very well. I taught French in Azerbaijan. I met Ilqar through that. He was one of my listeners.”

The accused, Martin Ryan, stated that a woman named Olga approached him to take French lessons:

"This request seemed suspicious to me. Why would a diplomatic staff member leave her diplomatic work to learn French and work in the tourism sector? After 2-3 lessons, Olga stopped coming. I informed the management of the course about it. She was unaware of it as well. All these events raised significant suspicions in me. Soon after, Frederik left, and a person named Loran Lödi contacted me and said that he was Frederik Devos’s successor. However, when Loran Lödi reached out to me, Frederik was still in Azerbaijan. Loran Lödi also wanted the same things that Frederik had asked of me and mentioned that meetings would take place frequently. I don’t know where he knew me from, but Loran Lödi also knew Azad Mammadli. At that point, I felt like I was under the control of Loran Lödi. Of course, I told Azad Mammadli about this. I informed him that we were under the surveillance of French intelligence services and that we needed to be cautious. After a while, Loran Lödi disappeared. I contacted his assistant and found out that the assistant wasn’t aware of his whereabouts. Later, in August, a person named Jerom introduced himself to me. We communicated via WhatsApp. He suggested that we meet near the mud volcanoes because it’s a secluded area. I directly apologized and declined the meeting, but we did meet at events. Our discussions mostly revolved around Iran. Regarding work, he told me that there was a demand for non-alcoholic beverages in Azerbaijan. He recommended that I bring more non-alcoholic drinks to the country."

The state prosecutor asked, "Why were you carrying out these tasks for the embassy?" Martin Ryan replied that he was not seeking financial gain, but was doing it for work purposes: "Establishing contact with the embassy was important to me. It was both a step I took to ensure my safety and a way for me to understand the state of relations between the two countries. I did not receive any material income for the work I did; it simply strengthened my connection with the embassy."

The trial will continue on April 14.

Note that the accused persons were arrested on December 4, 2023. The State Security Service has charged Martin Ryan, the director general of Merkorama LLC, with espionage under Article 276 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Azerbaijan.

According to the charges, Martin Ryan was used as an agent-spy by France's DGSE (Directorate-General for External Security) officers who recruited him for covert collaboration and were later declared "persona non grata" and expelled from Baku. In the same case, along with Martin Ryan, the citizen of the Republic of Azerbaijan Azad Mammadli has been charged under Article 274 (treason). As is known, following the exposure of a wide spy network and operational failures, Bernard Émié, the head of France's DGSE, was dismissed from his position on December 20, 2023.