Aliyev's order names Martin Ryan among 19 people leaving prison early
An order signed in Baku on 23 September releases 19 people from the unserved part of their prison sentences, and item 1.16 names French citizen Ryan Martin Riçard, born in 1988. France 24 reports that President Ilham Aliyev pardoned Martin Ryan on Wednesday, a day after the EU lifted sanctions on a Russian billionaire. The order itself does not draw that link.
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The order's own list
An order signed in Baku on 23 September releases 19 people from the unserved part of prison sentences. Item 1.16 names Ryan Martin Riçard, a French citizen born in 1988, convicted by the Baku Grave Crimes Court on 16 March. Euronews identified him as Martin Ryan from an espionage case. The same order also releases 1 person from the unserved part of a restriction-of-freedom sentence. France 24, reporting on Wednesday, names the French national in that pardon as Martin Ryan and says he had been imprisoned for espionage.[1], [2]
What Euronews added, and what the order omits
Euronews reported that Ryan was sentenced to 10 years on espionage charges and that France called the case arbitrary. Euronews also linked the pardon to Alisher Usmanov's removal from the EU sanctions list. The order does not draw that link. Euronews wrote that Anass Derraz, the second French national named in that account, was not on the list. France 24's page likewise places the pardon a day after the EU lifted sanctions on a Russian billionaire, and it attributes the pressure reading to diplomats rather than to the text signed in Baku.[1], [2]
Two counts, one named man
Readers can hold the decree's 19 prison releases and the separate release of 1 person from a restriction-of-freedom sentence next to France 24's account of a Wednesday pardon for Martin Ryan. The shared, named fact is that Ryan, the French citizen in the espionage case, is covered by Aliyev's order. The sanctions chronology is France 24's, sourced to diplomats. Nothing in the order's item 1.16 mentions Usmanov, Derraz, or the EU list. The named man and the order's silence on the sanctions list are the two facts a reader can separate.[1], [2]
