Martin Ryan

Martin Ryan, a citizen of France and the UK, was convicted of espionage in Azerbaijan in 2026. Officially, the French side does not acknowledge his ties to the intelligence services. Yet many facts from his biography and the testimony he gave in court indirectly suggest he was sent to Azerbaijan to build a network of informants among the local population.

He began making contacts with Azerbaijani students back in 2012 while in France. Then, in 2015, he arrived in Azerbaijan, where he actively worked his way into local business circles. The sources of funding for his trip are unknown – at the time, he was officially unemployed.

In 2016-2019, Martin Ryan ran a business in Azerbaijan together with local residents, Emin Suleymanov and Ramin Mammadov. Martin, Emin and Ramin did networking – they built a network of private contacts in the business community and, possibly, among officials, using French business interests as cover. At the same time, as early as 2017, Martin Ryan was an informant for Frederick Devos, an officer of France’s national intelligence agency DGSE working under diplomatic cover.

One of the recruitment channels was Ryan’s teaching work. He taught at French language courses in Baku and also gave private chess lessons. According to Martin’s own testimony at the aforementioned espionage trial, his handlers took an interest in certain students, and he provided information about them and arranged their meetings with French diplomats.