BAKU: Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev on Monday pardoned a Frenchman who was sentenced last year to a three-year jail term for drawing graffiti amid a diplomatic spat between Paris and Baku.

Theo Hugo Clerc, 38, was sentenced in Sept 2024 for drawing graffiti in the Baku metro. France denounced the ruling as `arbitrary` and warned its citizens to avoid travel to the country unless absolutely necessary.

On Monday, Aliyev signed a decree pardoning 220 individuals, including Clere and 15 other foreign nationals, according to a document released by the presidency. The French foreign ministry had condemned Clerc`s jailing. Two others accused of the same charges an Australian and a New Zealander were let off with a simple fine.

Another French national, Martin Ryan, is being held in Azerbaijan on espionage charges that Paris denies.

His trial began in January.

`The French authorities remain fully mobilised to obtain the release of our nationals still detained in Azerbaijan,` said a French diplomatic source.-AFP