President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev signed a decree on Wednesday pardoning a number of convicts. Among them is French citizen Martin Ryan, who was sentenced to 10 years in prison for spying for France. The message was posted on the website of the head of state. Ryan was sentenced by the Baku Court of Serious Crimes on March 16, 2026. The State Security Service of Azerbaijan arrested Ryan on December 4, 2023. He was the general director of "Merkorama" LLC. According to the indictment, employees of France's General Department of External Security (DGSE) involved Ryan in secret cooperation and used him as a spy-agent. later those employees were declared "persona � "on grata" and expelled from Baku. In this criminal case, Ryan was charged under Article 276 of the Criminal Code of Azerbaijan (espionage). The other defendant in the case, Azad Mamedli, a citizen of Azerbaijan, was charged under Article 274 of the Criminal Code (treason). In general, 15 citizens of Azerbaijan and 5 foreigners (two citizens of Turkey, one citizen of France, one citizen of Pakistan, as well as one person with the citizenship of Russia and Israel) were pardoned by the decree of the head of state. According to the report, the decision was made based on humanitarian principles, taking into account the appeals of the convicts, their families, as well as human rights defenders. When making a decision, the convicts' personality, health condition, family situation, the nature of the committed crimes and the degree of public danger, the term of the sentence and their behavior were taken into account.