DR Congo coup attempt: Thirty-seven sentenced to death

Thirty-seven people – including three Americans, a Briton, a Belgian and a Canadian national – have been sentenced to death over an attempt to overthrow the president of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The men were accused of leading an attack on both the presidential palace and the home of an ally of President Félix Tshisekedi in May.

Christian Malanga, a US national of Congolese origin, the suspected leader of the plot, was killed during the attack, along with five others.

In total 51 people were tried in a military court, with hearings broadcast on national TV and radio.

Malanga’s son Marcel, one of the US citizens sentenced to death, previously told the court that his father had threatened to kill him unless he took part.

His friend Tyler Thompson, was also given the death penalty. The pair, aged in their 20s, had played football together in Utah.

His stepmother Miranda Thompson in June told the BBC the family had “zero idea” how he had ended up in DR Congo.

“We were in complete shock as to what was happening, and the unknown. Everything we were learning was what we were getting off Google,” she said.

The third American, Benjamin Zalman-Polun, had business interests with Christian Malanga.

Also sentenced to death was Jean-Jacques Wondo, a dual Congolese and Belgian citizen.

Human Rights Watch previously described him as a prominent researcher on regional politics and security, and suggested the evidence connecting him to the coup attempt was thin.

The AFP news agency reports that the Briton and Canadian nationals were of Congolese origin.

The court heard the British national, Youssouf Ezangi, had helped recruit some of the others who took part.

Of the 51 tried, 14 people were acquitted and freed, with the court finding they had no connection to the attack.

Those convicted have five days to appeal against their sentences.

Death sentences have not been carried out in DR Congo for roughly two decades – convicts who receive the penalty serve life imprisonment instead.

The government lifted this moratorium in March this year, citing the need to remove “traitors” from the nation’s dysfunctional army. However, no death penalties have been carried out since.

The attempted coup began in the capital, Kinshasa, in the early hours of 19 May. Armed men first attacked parliamentary speaker Vital Kamerhe’s home in Kinshasa then headed to the president’s official residence.

Witnesses say a group of about 20 assailants in army uniform attacked the palace and an exchange of gunfire followed.

An army spokesman later announced on national TV that security forces had stopped “an attempted coup d’etat”.

Local media reports said the assailants were members of the New Zaire Movement linked to Malanga, an exiled DR Congolese politician.

Malanga was shot dead in the attack after resisting arrest, said army spokesperson Brig Gen Sylavin Ekenge.

President Tshisekedi was re-elected for a second term in disputed elections last year in December. He won about 78% of the vote.

DR Congo is a country with vast mineral wealth and a huge population. Despite this, life is difficult for many people, with conflict, corruption and poor governance persisting.

Much of the country’s natural resources lie in the east where violence still rages despite Mr Tshisekedi’s attempts to deal with the situation by imposing a state of siege, ceasefire deals and bringing in troops from neighbouring countries.

Additional reporting by Emery Makumeno in Kinshasa & Natasha Booty in London