Azerbaijan pardons jailed Frenchman after EU lifts sanctions on Russian billionaire
The French national Martin Ryan was pardoned by Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev on Wednesday. The pardon came a day after the EU lifted sanctions on Russian billionaires following what diplomats said was pressure from Baku.
Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev on Wednesday pardoned 20 people in total, having taken into account their "personalities, state of health, family circumstances" and other reasons, his website said.
Ryan had been serving a ten-year prison sentence in Baku following a conviction in March.
A senior diplomat in Brussels had told AFP that France had pushed for the EU to lift sanctions on a Russian billionaire, seeking the release of French prisoners.
Three European diplomats told Reuters that Paris had indicated in private that Baku was using Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanov to pressure it over the case of two French citizens held in Azerbaijan, an assertion rejected by Baku.
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