Askume September 13 – A military court sentenced three American citizens to death on Friday for their roles in a failed coup attempt in the Democratic Republic of Congo .
On May 19, armed men briefly occupied the presidential office in the capital, Kinshasa, after their leader, Christian Malanga, a Congolese politician living in the United States, was killed by security forces.
His son, Marcel Malanga, and Marcel’s friend Tyler Thompson, with whom he played high school football in Utah, were among the Americans charged. Both are in their 20s.
The third American, Benjamin Zalman-Polun, was Christian Malanga’s business partner.
The verdicts, which were broadcast live on television, showed that the three were found guilty of criminal conspiracy, terrorism and other charges and sentenced to death.
Malanga earlier told the court that his father had threatened to kill him if he did not attend . He also told the court that he had come to Congo for the first time at the invitation of his father, whom he had not seen for several years.
The Americans are among about 50 people facing trial following the failed coup. They include US, British, Canadian, Belgian and Congolese citizens.
The verdict was read under a tent in the courtyard of the Ndolo military prison on the outskirts of Kinshasa. The defendant sat before the judge wearing a prison-issued blue and yellow top.
The trial began in July.
