Congo sentences 3 Americans to death over alleged coup plot

A court in the Democratic Republic of the Congo sentenced 37 people to death on Friday over their role in an alleged coup plot several months ago.

Three US citizens were among them, as well as one Belgian, one Briton and one Canadian.

 "The court pronounces the harshest sentence: the death penalty for criminal association, the death penalty for attack, the death penalty for terrorism," court president Freddy Ehume said at the Ndolo military prison in Kinshasa.

Another 14 defendants in the case were acquitted, with the investigation showing they had "no connection" with the coup attempt.

Plans to appeal

The DRC reinstituted the death penalty earlier this year.

However, a lawyer representing the six foreigners disputed whether it could currently be applied in the country.

"We will challenge this decision on appeal," lawyer Richard Bondo said.

What do we know about the defendants?

Authorities said the coup attempt in May was led by Christian Malanga, a Congolese man naturalized US citizen who was later killed by security forces.

He allegedly led armed men to the building housing President Felix Tshisekedi's offices. Footage showed men waving flags of Zaire, the country's name under ex-dictator Mobutu Sese Seko who was overthrown in 1997.

The three Americans who were sentenced to death on Friday included Malanga's 21-year-old son, Marcel, as well as Tyler Thompson, 22, and 36-year-old Benjamin Zalman-Polun.

Malanga told the court that his father had "told us he would kill us if we didn't listen," while Thompson said he was "forced to carry an arm."

"I came to the DRC (Democratic Republic of Congo) to visit Marcel's family who I had never seen before," Thompson added.

Another defendant sentenced to death was Belgian-Congolese citizen Jean-Jacques Wondo, a military expert.

"I beg you, intervene, he is innocent," his wife, Nathalie Kayembe Wondo, said in a video message to Tshisekedi.

zc/jcg (AP, Reuters, AFP)