Three U.S. citizens are among the 37 defendants sentenced to death by a military court on Friday for their responsibility in the failed coup that happened in the Democratic Republic of Congo in May.
Armed men had shortly occupied an office of the presidency in capital Kinshasa on May 19 before their leader – a U.S.-based Congolese politician Christian Malanga– was killed by security forces.
His son, Marcel Malanga, has been included in the Americans standing trial, along with Marcel’s friend, Tyler Thompson, a former high school football player with him in Utah.
The third American identified as Benjamin Zalman-Polun was a business associate of Christian Malanga and all three were found guilty of criminal conspiracy, terrorism and other charges, and all are sentenced to death in a ruling read on live TV.
These Americans are among the 50 people, including U.S., British, Canadian, Belgian and Congolese citizens, standing trial in the aftermath of the failed coup.
A total of 37 defendants have been sentenced to death and they include a Belgian-Congolese citizen Jean-Jacques Wondo.
