Democratic Republic of Congo sentences three Americans to death: NPR

KINSHASA, Democratic Republic of Congo – A military tribunal in the Democratic Republic of Congo on Friday sentenced 37 people, including three U.S. citizens, to death for their roles in a failed coup in the central African country this summer.

“The court pronounces the harshest sentence: the death penalty,” said Major Freddy Ehume, the president of the tribunal, which met under a khaki-green tent in the courtyard of Ndolo military prison in the capital, Kinshasa.

The verdict ended three months of hearings into the events of May 19, when a group of armed men led by Congolese exile and longtime U.S. resident Christian Malanga launched a botched attempt to overthrow the government of President Felix Tshisekedi.

That night, Malanga and several dozen men first attacked the home of senior politician Vital Kamerhe, a close ally of Tshisekedi, in the capital Kinshasa before entering a sprawling presidential complex in the city center, where they unfurled flags and chanted anti-government slogans, according to footage Malanga broadcast live on social media.

But Congolese troops quickly regained control, killing Malanga in the process. According to the Congolese, he was one of at least six people who lost their lives during the coup attempt. Innocent victims were also killed. A security guard stationed at Kamerhe's house was shot dead, as was a man whom the group randomly stopped on the street to steal his jeep.

Immediately after the coup, security forces arrested three Americans and dozens of others on the banks of the nearby Congo River as they tried to flee the presidential complex.

Among those arrested was Christian Malanga's son, 22-year-old Marcel Malanga, as well as his close friend from Utah, 21-year-old Tyler Thompson, and another American, 36-year-old Benjamin Zalman from Maryland.
Poland.

Thompson's family had told reporters they thought their son was on vacation.

Footage circulating on social media and shown during subsequent court hearings highlighted the brutal conditions of her arrest. In one video, Zalman-Polun lies naked on the planks of a riverboat while agitated and screaming soldiers shoot at a man trying to swim away.

Congolese security forces arrested dozens of people after the coup attempt and brought a total of 51 people to trial in Kinshasa. They are accused of murder, terrorism and criminal association, among other things. These charges are punishable by death.

Although the death penalty formally continues to exist in the country, there was a moratorium on the death penalty for decades until the government lifted the moratorium in March of this year to put an end to what it called “treason.”

American Marcel Malanga, fourth from right, stands with others during the sentencing of a court in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Kinshasa, Friday, Sept. 13, 2024, on charges of participating in a coup attempt in May 2024.

Samy Ntumba Shambuyi/AP

Hide caption

Show/hide label

Samy Ntumba Shambuyi/AP

The coup trial began in June at Ndolo military prison in Kinshasa after the defendants had been held incommunicado for several weeks. Many of the defendants summoned to court said they had been tortured by military intelligence agents while in custody.

Youssouff Ezangi, a Congolese-born British citizen portrayed by Congolese authorities as one of the main leaders of the coup, initially appeared in court with black marks on his arms.

The U.S. citizens also testified that their statements were extracted under duress and without the presence of an interpreter. “In the first underground location we went to, we were beaten and tortured,” Marcel Malanga said calmly during a court hearing in August.

Throughout the trial, the defendants, including Tyler Thompson, largely stuck to their story – namely, that Christian Malanga had forced them to participate.

According to Thompson, he was awakened by Christian Malanga on the night of the coup attempt and threatened at gunpoint.

“He hadn't said anything about it until that night,” he told the court. “As far as I know, we were here on vacation to meet him, so I didn't perceive him as a threat. The only thing he told me is that I have to do everything he says or I'll die.”

Translation problems also made the start of the trial difficult. The first interpreter provided by the army barely understood basic English. The accused US citizens speak neither the official government language of the Congo, French, nor Lingala, the language predominant in Kinshasa.

However, the three Americans described the events of the night of May 19 in the same way. They stated in court that Christian Malanga had forced them to participate at gunpoint and that they had feared for their lives.

Most Congolese told a similar story. Most of them were from western Congo and said that Christian Malanga had hired them to work for his NGO. However, nothing was said about his political goals.

However, the court rejected this defense and did not directly address the defense's arguments that testimony obtained under torture was unlawful.

51 defendants faced a military tribunal following an attempted coup in the Democratic Republic of Congo in May 2024.

ARSENE MPIANA/AFP

Hide caption

Show/hide label

ARSENE MPIANA/AFP

On Friday, the court found all members of the alleged group of attackers – including three US citizens, a Canadian and British citizen Ezangi – guilty on all counts.

Belgian national Jean-Jacques Wondo, who was not involved in the attack, was also sentenced to death because he was allegedly the “intellectual author” of the events. The authorities accuse him, a former adviser to the Congolese secret service, of wiping his phone the day after the attack and of keeping in touch with Malanga through an intermediary. He and all the other defendants vehemently denied this claim.

Fourteen people, most of whom were mistakenly arrested after the coup attempt, were acquitted. Ehume, the tribunal's chairman, said he and the four other judges made their decision by secret ballot.

But a defense attorney in the coup trial, who did not want to be named to protect his client, was deeply skeptical. “It was superficial, the court did not deal with the core of the case,” said the attorney. “They had a decision in their pocket.”

Marcel Malanga's lawyer, Sylva Mbikayi, said he was “stunned” by the verdict and announced he would appeal. “This is a shameful decision marked by a great deal of malice on the part of the tribunal.”