Congo court sentences 3 Americans and 34 others to death on coup charges
KINSHASA, Congo (AP) — A military court in Congo on Friday convicted 37 people, including three Americans, on charges of taking part in a coup attempt and sentenced them to death.
The defendants, who also included a Briton, Belgian, Canadian and several Congolese, can appeal the verdict on charges that included terrorism, murder and criminal association. Fourteen people were acquitted in the trial, which opened in June.
Six people were killed during the botched coup attempt led by the little-known opposition figure Christian Malanga in May that targeted the presidential palace and a close ally of President Felix Tshisekedi. Malanga was fatally shot while resisting arrest soon after live-streaming the attack on his social media, the Congolese army said.
The three Americans convicted were Malanga’s 21-year-old son Marcel Malanga, as well as Tyler Thompson Jr. and Benjamin Reuben Zalman-Polun.