Briton and Americans among 37 given death sentence over DRC coup attempt
Son of opposition figure who led botched attempt in May is among three Americans sentenced to death
A Briton and three Americans are among 37 people sentenced to death on Friday over an attempt to overthrow the president of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Six people were killed during the botched coup attempt led by the opposition figure Christian Malanga on 19 May that targeted the presidential palace and a close ally of President Félix Tshisekedi.
Armed men first attacked the parliamentary speaker Vital Kamerhe’s home in Kinshasa, then briefly occupied an office of the presidency, before Malanga, a US-based Congolese politician, was killed by security forces.
Malanga was shot while resisting arrest soon after live-streaming the attack on his social media, the Congolese army said.
The defendants, who also include a Belgian, a Canadian national and several Congolese, can appeal against the verdict on charges that included terrorism, murder and criminal association. Fourteen people were acquitted in the trial, which opened in July.
The three Americans convicted were Malanga’s son Marcel Malanga, 21, as well as Tyler Thompson Jr and Benjamin Zalman-Polun.
Marcel had told the court that his father, from whom he had been estranged, threatened to kill him unless he participated. He said it was his first time visiting the country at the invitation of his father whom he had not seen in years.
Thompson, 21, flew to Africa from Utah with Marcel for what his family believed was a vacation with all expenses paid by the elder Malanga, the court previously heard.
The pair had played high school football together in Salt Lake City. Other teammates had accused Marcel of offering up to $100,000 to join him on a “security job” in DRC.
Thompson’s family have said he had no knowledge of the elder Malanga’s intentions, nor any plans for political activism or intentions to enter DRC. They have said they understood the itinerary to be South Africa and Eswatini.
Zalman-Polun, 36, was a business associate of Christian Malanga.
There was no official information available about the Briton, who was reported to also be a naturalised Congolese citizen.
A spokesperson for the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office said: “We are providing consular assistance to a British man detained in DRC and are in contact with the local authorities.
“We have made representations about the use of the death penalty to the DRC at the highest levels, and we will continue to do so.”
The verdict was read out on live television in the yard of Ndolo military prison on the outskirts of Kinshasa.
In March, DRC reinstated the death penalty, lifting a 21-year-old moratorium, as authorities struggle to curb violence and militant attacks.
The justice ministry said at the time that the ban from 2003 had allowed offenders accused of treason and espionage to get away without sufficient punishment.
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