Congo: Court sentences three Americans and 34 others to death for attempted coup

Kinshasa, Congo
AP
—

A military court in Congo sentenced 37 people to death on Friday, including three Americans. The defendants were accused of participating in an attempted coup.

The defendants, who include a Briton, a Belgian, a Canadian and several Congolese, can appeal against the verdict. They are accused of terrorism, murder and criminal association, among other things. In the trial that began in June, 14 people were acquitted.

Six people were killed in the failed coup attempt in May, led by little-known opposition leader Christian Malanga, which targeted the presidential palace and a close ally of President Felix Tshisekedi. Malanga was shot dead as he resisted arrest, shortly after live-streaming the attack on his social media, the Congolese army said.

Malanga's 21-year-old son, Marcel Malanga, a U.S. citizen, and two other Americans were convicted of the attack. His mother, Brittney Sawyer, said her son was innocent and was merely following his father, who considered himself president of a shadow government in exile.

The other Americans were Tyler Thompson Jr., who flew with the younger Malanga from Utah to Africa for what his family believed was a vacation, and Benjamin Reuben Zalman-Polun, 36, who is said to have known Christian Malanga through a gold mining company.

The company was founded in Mozambique in 2022, according to an official journal of the Mozambican government and a report by the newsletter Africa Intelligence.

Thompson's family claims he knew nothing of the elder Malanga's intentions, had no plans for political involvement and did not even intend to enter Congo. He and the Malangas were only supposed to travel to South Africa and Eswatini, Thompson's stepmother said.

The reading of the verdict and the counting of sentences before the open-air military court were broadcast live on television.

Last month, military prosecutor Lieutenant Colonel Innocent Radjabu asked judges to sentence all defendants to death except one who suffered from “mental health problems.”

Earlier this year, Congo reinstated the death penalty, lifting a moratorium that was more than two decades old, as authorities struggle to contain violence and militant attacks in the country.