{"id":3126,"date":"2025-12-21T13:40:21","date_gmt":"2025-12-21T13:40:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/home\/ex-benin-defense-minister-jailed-over-failed-coup"},"modified":"2025-12-22T17:28:13","modified_gmt":"2025-12-22T17:28:13","slug":"ex-benin-defense-minister-jailed-over-failed-coup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/policy\/ex-benin-defense-minister-jailed-over-failed-coup","title":{"rendered":"Ex-Benin Defense Minister Jailed over Failed Coup"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"ap-summary\" dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">\n<h4>What You Need to Know<\/h4>\n<p>B\u00e9nin&#8217;s former Defense Minister Candide Azana\u00ef has been detained as part of an investigation into a thwarted coup attempt earlier this month. He faces serious charges including conspiracy against the state and incitement to rebellion. The situation has escalated with several military personnel arrested for various offenses related to the coup.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><span class=\"ap-article-header-tag\"> <strong>Africa. <\/strong> <\/span>The judicial authorities in Be\u0301nin have detained former Defense Minister Candide Azanai\u0308 as part of the ongoing investigation into the thwarted coup attempt that occurred in early December.<\/p>\n<p>Azanai\u0308, who is the leader of the opposition party Restoration of Hope, faces charges related to &#8220;conspiracy against state authority&#8221; and &#8220;direct incitement to rebellion.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>He was arrested last week at his party&#8217;s headquarters in the capital, Cotonou, before appearing before the Economic Crimes and Terrorism Court, which decided to remand him in custody after several hours of questioning.<\/p>\n<p>In a parallel development, authorities announced the arrest of five military personnel for &#8220;failure to report crimes,&#8221; while dozens of others were detained last week on charges including &#8220;treason,&#8221; &#8220;assassination,&#8221; and &#8220;attacking state security.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><b>Background of the Attempt<\/b><\/p>\n<p>The case dates back to December 7, when soldiers appeared on state television announcing the ousting of President Patrice Talon. However, the military quickly regained control of the situation, with support from neighboring Nigeria and France, leading to the failure of the coup on its first day.<\/p>\n<p>The clashes resulted in fatalities, and several of the rebel officers, led by coup leader Major Pascal Tigri, remain fugitives from justice. In a notable development, the authorities in Be\u0301nin issued an international arrest warrant for prominent activist Kimi Seba, known for his anti-Western positions, in connection with his public support for the coup attempt.<\/p>\n<p>On December 7, 2023, a group of soldiers attempted to announce the ousting of President Patrice Talon on national television. However, the military quickly regained control, aided by neighboring Nigeria and France, thwarting the coup on its first day. The failed attempt resulted in casualties, and several rebel officers, including the leader of the coup, Major Pascal Tigri, remain at large. In a related development, Benin&#8217;s authorities issued an international arrest warrant for prominent activist Kimi Seba, known for his anti-Western stance, due to his public support for the coup attempt.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ap-article-footer-note\">Find more news and analyses on <span class=\"ap-highlight-country\">Africa<\/span> on the <span class=\"ap-highlight-brand\">Africa Press<\/span> website<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What You Need to Know B\u00e9nin&#8217;s former Defense Minister Candide Azana\u00ef has been detained as part of an investigation into a thwarted coup attempt earlier this month. He faces serious charges including conspiracy against the state and incitement to rebellion. The situation has escalated with several military personnel arrested for various offenses related to the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":3125,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[120,666,723,667,725,724],"class_list":{"0":"post-3126","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-policy","8":"tag-africa","9":"tag-benin","10":"tag-candide-azanai","11":"tag-coup-attempt","12":"tag-military-arrests","13":"tag-political-unrest"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Ex-Benin Defense Minister Jailed over Failed Coup - Africa Press English<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Former Defense Minister Candide Azana\u00ef detained amid coup attempt investigations in Benin, with multiple military arrests.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/policy\/ex-benin-defense-minister-jailed-over-failed-coup\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Ex-Benin Defense Minister Jailed over Failed Coup\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Former Defense Minister Candide Azana\u00ef detained amid coup attempt investigations in Benin, with multiple military arrests.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/policy\/ex-benin-defense-minister-jailed-over-failed-coup\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Africa Press English\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-12-21T13:40:21+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-12-22T17:28:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/africa-home\/sites\/69\/2025\/12\/sm_1766424160.06083.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"675\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/policy\/ex-benin-defense-minister-jailed-over-failed-coup#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/policy\/ex-benin-defense-minister-jailed-over-failed-coup\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Ex-Benin Defense Minister Jailed over Failed Coup\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-12-21T13:40:21+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-12-22T17:28:13+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/policy\/ex-benin-defense-minister-jailed-over-failed-coup\"},\"wordCount\":397,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/policy\/ex-benin-defense-minister-jailed-over-failed-coup#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/africa-home\/sites\/69\/2025\/12\/sm_1766424160.06083.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa\",\"B\u00e9nin\",\"Candide Azana\u00ef\",\"coup attempt\",\"military arrests\",\"political unrest\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/policy\/ex-benin-defense-minister-jailed-over-failed-coup#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/policy\/ex-benin-defense-minister-jailed-over-failed-coup\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/policy\/ex-benin-defense-minister-jailed-over-failed-coup\",\"name\":\"Ex-Benin Defense Minister Jailed over Failed Coup - 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