Sunday, December 21, 2025 - Benin Republic has placed former defence minister and prominent opposition figure Candide Azannai in pre-trial detention as part of investigations into the failed coup attempt earlier this month.
According to an AFP journalist, Azannai was accused of
plotting against the state and incitement to rebellion. He was arrested last
week at his party’s headquarters in Cotonou following the attempted takeover.
Azannai’s detention comes despite his public condemnation of
the coup and is the latest development after about 30 people, most of them
soldiers, were jailed on Tuesday, December 16, on treason charges in
connection with the foiled plot.
Soldiers had appeared on national television on December 7
to announce that they had overthrown President Patrice Talon, but loyalist
forces swiftly regained control, with support from the Nigerian Air Force.
Several people were killed during the unrest, while some suspected mutineers,
including alleged coup leader Lieutenant-Colonel Pascal Tigri, remain at large.
After hours of questioning at Benin’s anti-terrorism court,
Azannai was escorted away by police at dawn and taken into custody, an AFP
reporter witnessed.
While Talon has been credited by supporters with boosting
economic growth, critics accuse his administration of sliding into
authoritarianism in a country once regarded as a democratic model in West
Africa. In recent years, Benin has also faced growing jihadist violence in its
northern regions.
President Talon is expected to step down in April after
completing his second and final term in office.
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