Martin Ryan testifies: I thought the special service officers were diplomats

Another court hearing was held in the criminal case initiated by the State Security Service (SSS) of Azerbaijan against Martin Ryan, who was arrested on charges of espionage for France, and Azad Mammadli, who is accused of treason.

According to Report, the accused Martin Ryan testified at the trial held at the Baku Serious Crimes Court, presided over by Judge Elmin Rustamov.

He spoke about his connections with the French embassy staff: "Azad Mammadli also did not meet with them secretly. If our meetings were secret, our meeting places would also be secret. When they approached me, they did not say they were agents. I thought the individuals in question were diplomats."

Later, the testimony given by the other accused, Azad Mammadli, during the preliminary investigation was announced. In that testimony, Mammadli said that he received his master's degree in France from 2016-2018. Then he attended a French language course in Baku:

"My French language teacher there was Z.M. After finishing the course, I accidentally met her on the boulevard. Z.M. introduced me to Martin Ryan at that time. During the meeting, I learned that Martin had created a company with Z.M. After a while, Z.M. told me that there was a gathering at Martin's house and that I was also invited to this gathering. At that gathering, I met Frederik Devos. We had a conversation about how I could find a job in Europe."

Azad Mammadli also said during the preliminary investigation that Frederik Devos asked him about the Eurasian Economic Forum held in Kyrgyzstan during one of their meetings.

"Although I rejected his cooperation offer, he suggested that I participate in events held by the French embassy. During our meeting, he asked me questions about Azerbaijani businessmen living in Russia, as well as Iran's spy networks in Azerbaijan, and also about the 'Husseynchiler'. I told him the information I knew about them," Azad Mammadli stated.

He added during the preliminary investigation that he met Loran Grard, an employee of the French embassy, at one of the events. Later, he met with the person in question individually:

 "During one of our meetings, when I went to the restroom and came back, I saw that he had put a pen on the table. Loran said that his email was written on this pen and told me to quickly take the pen and put it in my pocket. But I objected to this. Later, he suggested that I establish contact through the 'Signal' application."

Because the time allocated for the process has ended, the continuation of the accused person's testimony given during the preliminary investigation will be announced at the session to be held on October 1.

The accused persons were arrested on December 4, 2023. The SSS has brought espionage charges against Martin Ryan, who was the general director of Merkorama LLC.

According to the accusation, Martin Ryan was used as an agent-spy by the employees of France's DGSE (General Directorate for External Security), who recruited him for secret cooperation and were later declared "persona non-grata" and expelled from Baku.

Along with Martin Ryan, Azad Mammadli, a citizen of the Republic of Azerbaijan, will be tried on charges of "treason" in the same criminal case.

After the exposure of an extensive spy network and service failures, Bernard Emié, the head of the French General Directorate for External Security (DGSE), was dismissed from his position on December 20, 2023.