Azerbaijan Pardons Martin Ryan One Day After EU Lifts Sanctions on Usmanov

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev granted a pardon to Martin Ryan, a French citizen sentenced to 10 years in prison for espionage in March, according to La Derecha Diario. The move came one day after the European Union removed Alisher Usmanov from its sanctions list against individuals linked to Russia. The outlet noted that three European diplomats mentioned that Paris had indicated privately that Baku was using the Russian businessman’s case to pressure France over the detention of two French citizens on Azerbaijani territory.

What the source says about the pardon and its circumstances

According to La Derecha Diario, Ryan had been detained in December 2023 and accused of gathering information on Azerbaijan’s military cooperation with Turkey and Pakistan. The article noted that it was not immediately clear whether the pardon meant his immediate release. Aliyev’s decision came just 24 hours after the EU removed Usmanov from its sanctions list, where he had been included in 2022 following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, with travel restrictions, transaction bans, and asset freezes.

The text indicated that an Azerbaijani diplomat last week rejected suggestions that Baku was carrying out a pressure campaign and called such claims «categorically unfounded.» According to Azerbaijan’s position, the government had publicly advocated for Usmanov’s removal from the sanctions regime because it considers the measures against the Russian businessman unfair. Baku’s support for the billionaire had been expressed before the EU decision.

The second French citizen and the scope of the pardon

La Derecha Diario noted that Ryan’s case is also related to another French citizen imprisoned in Azerbaijan. A French magazine identified the second detainee as Anass Derraz, an employee of the French water management company Saur. Derraz was sentenced in 2025 to 12 years in prison on corruption charges and was not among those pardoned this Wednesday. The article did not specify the identity of the French magazine or the exact date of Derraz’s sentencing.

The outlet added that the EU decision on Usmanov and another Russian billionaire, Mikhail Fridman, generated divisions within the European bloc. Both had been sanctioned in 2022. The lifting of sanctions against both businessmen represented, according to the article, a significant shift in EU policy toward members of the Russian business elite who had not publicly condemned the war in Ukraine. The bloc, however, maintained sanctions against thousands of individuals and entities linked to Russia.

Reactions and diplomatic context

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky questioned the European decision and argued that Russia had managed to exploit divisions within the West to weaken the sanctions regime, according to La Derecha Diario. Kyiv had advocated for the continuation of restrictions against Russian businessmen. The article also mentioned that the Organization of Turkic States, made up of countries such as Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, and Turkey, had sent letters to European leaders and the U.S. president requesting the lifting of sanctions against Usmanov.

The text noted that relations between France and Azerbaijan were already going through a period of tension due, among other factors, to Paris’s political support for Armenia, Baku’s historic rival. Relations between Azerbaijan and Russia also deteriorated after Russian forces accidentally shot down an Azerbaijani passenger plane in December 2024. La Derecha Diario did not specify the exact date of the pardon or the name of the decree or resolution that implemented it.

Contrast with the official Argentine source

The second source provided is a statement from Argentina’s Ministry of Economy about modifications to the Fiscal Innocence Bill, announced by Minister Luis Caputo and the Legal and Technical Secretary of the Presidency, María Ibarzabal Murphy. This primary source has no thematic relation to the pardon in Azerbaijan or the EU sanctions on Usmanov. It is an official document on Argentine tax policy, whose data do not allow confirming, refuting, or contextualizing the events reported by La Derecha Diario.

The Ministry of Economy statement details changes to the simplified earnings affidavit regime, including the elimination of income and wealth caps for adherence, the introduction of a minimum threshold of 5 million pesos to rebut the presumption of accuracy, and the possibility of filing an amended affidavit within up to 15 business days. It also mentions that dollar deposits in the financial system have reached record levels close to 40 billion dollars and that there would be an amount more than four times that figure in savings outside the banking circuit.

Value module: data comparison

Methodological note: The comparison is limited to recording the presence or absence of data in each source. No equivalences are established between the topics, nor are monetary units converted. The primary source (Ministry of Economy) does not mention the pardon or the sanctions on Usmanov. The secondary source (La Derecha Diario) does not mention the fiscal innocence regime. No differences or percentages are calculated because the data are not comparable to each other.

What data or decision to follow

The central data to follow is the possible official link between the pardon of Martin Ryan and the EU decision on Alisher Usmanov. The source consulted mentions suspicions of diplomatic pressure but does not provide official documents confirming them. It also remains to be clarified whether the pardon implied Ryan’s immediate release and whether the French government formally commented on the case. Regarding the second French citizen, Anass Derraz, it was not reported whether his situation could be reviewed in the future. As for the official Argentine source, the data to follow is the legislative process of the fiscal innocence bill and the publication of the final regulation.