Justice: Commissioner Bignon Delcoz Kindjanhoundé before the CRIET

Police Commissioner Bignon Delcoz Kindjanhoundé appeared on Monday, February 9, 2026 before the Court for the Repression of Economic Offenses and Terrorism (CRIET).

He is charged with incitement to hatred and rebellion, as well as illegal possession of firearms, following the dissemination of a video deemed controversial, published the day after the attempted coup d’État on December 7, 2025.

At the bar, the defendant pleaded not guilty. Interrogated about the motivations for this publication, the commissioner said he had wanted to launch a call for a “democratic revolution,” asserting that he acted as a citizen and not in his capacity as a police officer.

The presiding judge then questioned him on the relevance of such a message, held on camera and in uniform, by a police officer. The accused answered in the affirmative.

To justify his actions, the defendant spoke of respecting “the souls of the dead,” explaining that he had been deployed in northern Benin in late 2023 as part of the fight against terrorism, where several soldiers had lost their lives.

He also claimed to have tried, in his view unsuccessfully, to alert his hierarchy through several notes that went unanswered.
At the end of the exchanges, the court president invited the defendant to reserve the rest of his explanations for the next hearing.

The case was adjourned to April 20, 2026 for continuation.