Baku accuses Paris of interfering in Azerbaijan's affairs

Spokesman for Azerbaijan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs Aykhan Hajizada urged France to cease the intervention into the internal affairs of Azerbaijan.

The statement was made in response to anti-Azerbaijani statement made by the French Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs about the detention of the French citizen in Azerbaijan.

“The claims by the French Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs that the detention of their citizen is arbitrary is null and void. This baseless statement is another attempt to distort the reality, and intervene into the internal affairs of Azerbaijan and the legal investigation process," Aykhan Hajizada said.

According to the spokesman, the court made a decision about the pretrial detention of this French citizen, Martin Rian, for 4 months.

He noted that the Azerbaijani side has fully complied with the national legislation and international obligations, and the French Embassy is fully aware about the case.

Hajizada recalled that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan has addressed the note verbale to the Embassy of France in Azerbaijan requesting the investigation of the case regarding the collaboration of the mentioned person with two employees of the French Embassy.

The spokesman stressed that the French side has refused to provide any explanation and declined cooperation in the investigation. Therefore, these two employees were declared as personae non gratae by Azerbaijan.