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.
