France accused Azerbaijan on January 9 of holding a French national arbitrarily and demanded his immediate release after Baku's ambassador to France said the man had been arrested on December 4 on suspicion of espionage. In a statement sent to Reuters, the French Foreign Ministry confirmed the detention of French citizen Martin Ryan. "We are in close contact with his family and the French Embassy in Baku was able to visit our compatriot twice as part of consular protection," the ministry said. The statement said Paris considers the detention to be arbitrary and demands Ryan’s immediate release.
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