Baku, September 8
The Baku Court on Grave Crimes held another hearing in the high-profile espionage trial of Martin Ryan, accused of spying for France, and Azad Mammadli, charged with treason. The case is being heard under the chairmanship of Judge Elmin Rustamov.
During the session, Ryan gave testimony about his contacts with French diplomats, Report informs.
“Meetings between Azad Mammadli and them were not secret, otherwise the venues would have been hidden as well. When they approached me, they did not say they were agents. I thought these individuals were diplomats,” Ryan told the court.
The court then reviewed Mammadli’s earlier testimony given during the investigation. He stated that after earning a master’s degree in France between 2016 and 2018, he attended French language courses in Baku, where his teacher introduced him to Ryan.
According to Mammadli, he was later invited to gatherings at Ryan’s residence where he met French national Frédéric Devos.
“We talked about how I might find work in Europe,” Mammadli said, adding that Devos later asked questions about the Eurasian Economic Forum in Kyrgyzstan and pressed him for information about Azerbaijani businessmen in Russia, Iranian spy networks in Azerbaijan, and the group known as ‘Huseynchilar.’
Mammadli admitted to providing some information he knew.
He also testified that Devos encouraged him to attend events organized by the French Embassy, where he met another diplomat, Laurent Grard. At one meeting, Mammadli alleged, Grard attempted to hand him a pen containing contact details, urging him to conceal it, and later proposed encrypted communication through the Signal app.
The trial will continue on October 1.
Ryan and Mammadli were arrested on December 4, 2023, following a State Security Service investigation. Prosecutors say they were recruited by French intelligence (DGSE) officers who were later declared persona non grata and expelled from Baku.
The scandal shook Paris: on December 20, 2023, DGSE director Bernard Émié was dismissed after the exposure of the network and operational failures.
