Another hearing has been held in the criminal case launched by the State Security Service (SSS) regarding Martin Ryan, accused of espionage for France, and Azad Mammadli, charged with high treason, APA reports.
Witnesses testified at the hearing held under the chairmanship of Judge Elmin Rustamov at the Baku Court on Grave Crimes.
J.S., who is recognized as a witness in the case, testified.
He stated that he became acquainted with the accused Martin Ryan on Facebook.
“Martin Ryan sent me a friend request on Facebook in late September or early October 2022. I looked at his profile. I accepted because we had mutual acquaintances. Then he texted me. We talked. He spoke about his plans to do business here and build a family life. We met several times. Later, I lost contact with him. His phone was unreachable, and his friends also had no information. Then the SSS summoned me to testify regarding Martin.”
The witness added that he did not know about Martin being a spy: “If I had known, I would have informed the relevant authority myself.”
The witness said that Martin had three close friends here: Azad, U.A., and Z.M.: “I have not seen them. Martin said that Z.M. helped him find a house, that Azad was smart, and U.A. was a sincere person.”
Next, S.Sh., who is recognized as a witness in the case, testified. He had rented out his house under a contract to Laurent Girard, an employee of the French Embassy: “I did not know what work he performed at the embassy. He was found through an intermediary. Under a contract, I rented my two-storey house located in Badamdar for 2,000 manats per month. Rent was paid in manats, and each month I personally went to collect the payment. I did not encounter any suspicious situation. Laurent stayed in the house with his family. At the end of the month, I called the house. There was no answer. I went to the house and saw that the door was locked, and even though I tried to contact him again, I received no reply. I wrote to the French Embassy’s email address. A day later, I received a response. The reply stated that Laurent Girard had urgently left for France, the keys to the house were at the embassy, and they would be handed over. The next day, a female employee of the embassy came and handed me the keys at the door. I did not see anything suspicious in the house.”
Another witness, R.M., testified that he had given statements during the investigation. In his testimony, he was asked about his acquaintance with Martin and matters related to Azad Mammadli: “I studied in France. I met Martin through my friend Diana at an embassy event. We did not meet very frequently, but we kept in contact. We usually went out and spent time with Azerbaijani students. After studying there for a total of four years, I returned to the country.”
The witness added that he had a company in the country: “After some time, Martin came to Azerbaijan, and we would meet with Azerbaijanis who studied at the same time. The purpose of these meetings was to maintain our language skills and keep our connections. Later, Martin opened a company. I also had a company. We worked together. Our work was going well. We decided to expand our business. For this, we started cooperation with Ludovic Girod, a Georgian citizen of French origin. He was supposed to provide us with clients. We opened a joint company. Martin became the director. Since their share was larger, they made the final decisions. I had only a 15–20 percent share. The function of the company was to deliver orders. For example, if someone ordered 50 barrels of wine, we handled it. Later, issues arose over percentages. Two years later, we decided to sell the company. But since the market offer was below its value, we did not sell it. After this, my relationship with Martin cooled, and we did not speak for two years.”
In response to questions by the parties, the witness said that during the company’s operations, they had established contacts with companies in France and Spain. They fulfilled the delivery of their orders.
The witness stated that in the summer of 2023, at a café in Baku, Martin told him that one of the older employees of the French Embassy had offered him to transfer money to a person operating in some African country. Martin believed that the elderly man was an intelligence officer.
The witness also stated that in the summer of 2023, Martin met with him and said that an employee of the French Embassy would bring him a keyboard with “French letters” printed on it. Martin Ryan said that they would meet that person at “Malakan Garden” in Baku and asked him to go with him. He went there together with Martin, and a few minutes later, that person also arrived. Although the person at the meeting introduced himself, the witness does not remember his name. After handing the keyboard to Martin, the embassy employee spoke with him for 5–10 minutes about Martin’s wine sales business in Baku. The embassy employee was a blond, bearded man who appeared to be around 40–45 years old, of medium build and medium height (during the preliminary investigation, in a photo line-up identification procedure, witness R.M. identified this embassy employee). U.A. and Z.M. were also present with them at this meeting. Since an urgent matter arose during the meeting, he left, but the conversation between Martin Ryan and the embassy employee continued.
The witness said that in their meetings, the name of a woman named Olga was mentioned: “She had a connection with Martin. Martin said during conversations that he suspected Olga might be a Russian agent. But I did not take it seriously.”
The state prosecutor asked the witness whether he had any information or suspicion about Martin committing espionage or inducing others to do so.
The witness said he had no such knowledge: “I did not speak with him for two years because of the company. If I had known, I would have informed the relevant structures.”
Responding to the witness statements, Martin Ryan said that he needed residence permit authorization: “For that, I became the director and received a monthly salary of 1,500 manats. In addition, they provided for my maintenance. If I had obtained residency in Georgia, R.M. could also have been chosen as director.”
The trial will continue on January 12 with the testimony of other witnesses.
According to the indictment, reasonable suspicions were established that Martin Ryan received assignments to obtain information regarding weapons and ammunition produced in the Republic of Azerbaijan, the composition of the Azerbaijani Army during the 44-day Patriotic War of 2020, persons serving or discharged from military service who could potentially be recruited, individuals educated abroad in French, foreign nationals and legal entities operating in Azerbaijan, the organization of covert money transfers from Azerbaijan to other countries on the instructions of the French intelligence service, relations and cooperation between Azerbaijan and the United Kingdom, Algeria, Türkiye, Pakistan, Iran, China, Somalia, Central Asian states and other countries, military cooperation plans, and weapons and ammunition imported into Azerbaijan — and that he acted in these directions.
Note that the accused were arrested on December 4, 2023. The SSS brought charges against Martin Ryan, the general director of “Merkorama” LLC, under Article 276 (espionage) of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Azerbaijan.
According to the accusation, Martin Ryan was used as an agent-spy by employees of France’s DGSE (Directorate-General for External Security), who had secretly recruited him and were later expelled from Baku as “persona non grata.” In that criminal case, alongside Martin Ryan, citizen of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Azad Mammadli was charged under Article 274 (high treason) of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Azerbaijan.
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