Thirty-seven alleged coup plotters, including three Americans, were convicted and sentenced to death on Friday by a military court in Kinshasa, following the failed coup attempt on May 19 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
A total of 51 people were tried by the military court in Kinshasa, the DRC capital, with the hearings broadcast on national television. The three Americans sentenced to death were convicted for the offenses of criminal association, attack and terrorism, including Marcel Malanga, son of Christian Malanga, the alleged leader of the attempted coup.
Marcel Malanga, who was born in Utah of the United States, and two other Americans, stood trial Friday, along with other defendants.
"The court imposes the death penalty for the charges of criminal association and terrorism, a 20-year prison sentence for the illegal possession of arms. In accordance with Article Seven of the Criminal Military Law, the unique sentence retained, the highest, is the death penalty," said Major Freddy Ehume, Presiding Judge of the Military Court.
One of the lawyers of the U.S. citizens said that he will appeal against the ruling.
"We have five days to appeal the judge's decision and we will do it on Tuesday before the military court of Kinshasa, Gombe which is a higher jurisdiction," said Richard Bondo, the lawyer.
According to some Congolese officials, the U.S. government has asked to transfer its citizens to America to serve their sentences in U.S. prisons over concerns about the poor conditions in the DRC, but the Congolese authorities have not yet taken a decision on that request.
Fourteen of the defendants were acquitted at the trial.
According to the DRC army, an "attempted coup" led by little-known opponent Christian Malanga was "nipped in the bud" early May 19. Six people, including Christian Malanga himself, were killed.
The putschists attacked the residence of Vital Kamerhe, then deputy prime minister, before intruding the Place of the Nation, where the offices of DRC President Felix Tshisekedi are located.
The attackers, dressed in military uniforms and displaying the Zaire flag, claimed in video clips circulating on social media that they wanted to "change things in the management of the Republic." Zaire, officially the Republic of Zaire, was the name of the DRC from 1971 to 1997.
Christian Malanga formed the United Congolese Party in 2010 and advocated for the return of Zaire. In 2017, He created a government in exile in Brussels, Belgium, giving birth to the so-called "New Zaire".
DR Congo sentences 37 coup plotters to death
DR Congo sentences 37 coup plotters to death
DR Congo sentences 37 coup plotters to death
