Azerbaijan Pardons French Prisoner After EU Sanctions Shift

Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev pardoned French national Martin Ryan on Wednesday, one day after the European Union lifted sanctions on Russian billionaires. Ryan had been serving a ten-year prison sentence in Baku following a March conviction.

According to reports from France 24, French diplomats indicated that Baku had leveraged Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanov to pressure the EU over the cases of French citizens held in Azerbaijan. The EU agreed Tuesday to extend Russia sanctions under a compromise that removed Usmanov and billionaire Mikhail Fridman from its blacklist. Baku rejected assertions that it used such pressure tactics.

The pardon represents a potential resolution in a diplomatic dispute involving multiple Western governments and Azerbaijan.