Benin: mutineers arrested after attempted coup expected before the CRIET

In total, thirteen current or former soldiers involved in the movement were arrested by security forces in the days after the events. They are to be questioned on the charges against them, notably for attempting to destabilize the country’s constitutional order.

The judicial procedure calls for, after questioning by the special prosecutor, the accused to be heard by the investigating judge, who will examine the charges and the defense’s evidence.

The files will then be submitted to the CRIET judge in charge of liberties and detention, who will decide whether to keep them in pretrial detention or grant possible release pending the continuation of the investigation.

The arrested mutineers reportedly left from the Togbin military base, armed and with armored vehicles, before opening hostilities with a series of attacks that first targeted strategic positions and then the presidential residence, without achieving their aims.

The movement’s leader, Colonel Pascal Tigri, remains on the run, according to authorities, while investigations continue to identify possible accomplices and determine the scope of the network behind this attempted overthrow of power.