French artist imprisoned in Azerbaijan due to graffiti is freed after 14 months

PARIS (AP) — A French street artist who had been sentenced to three years in prison in Azerbaijan for painting a graffiti in the metro has been pardoned and freed, French authorities said Tuesday.

Théo Clerc has returned to France following 422 days in detention after he was pardoned by Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev, France’s Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot told lawmakers.

“It is the honor and pride of French diplomacy and its representatives to have worked tirelessly for his release,” Barrot said.

French authorities had complained in September that Clerc was submitted to “discriminatory treatment,” because two codefendants who were accused of the same offense but who were not French were only fined.

France previously has advised its citizens against traveling to Azerbaijan because of a lack of legal protections and the risk of “arbitrary detention and unfair sentencing.”