Three Americans are sentenced to death in the Congo for their roles in a fail coup

A military court on Friday sentenced 37 defendants to death for their roles in the failed coup attempt in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in May, including three citizens of the United States. On May 19, armed men took over the presidential office in Kinshasa for a short while before security authorities assassinated their leader, Christian Malanga, a politician from Congo who was living in the United States. Marcel Malanga, his son, and Tyler Thompson, a friend of Marcel's who played football with him in high school in Utah, were two of the Americans on trial. They're both in their 20s.

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Christian Malanga's business associate Benjamin Zalman-Polun was the third American. All three received the death penalty in a decision that was read aloud on television after being convicted guilty of terrorism, criminal conspiracy, and other offences. Malanga had already informed the court that his father had threatened to murder him if he didn't take part. In addition, he informed the court that he was going to Congo for the first time at his father's invitation—a relationship he had not had in a long time.

About fifty individuals, including citizens of the United States, Britain, Canada, Belgium, and the Congo, are awaiting trial in the wake of the coup attempt. Thirty-seven offenders received death sentences. The decision was announced in the courtyard of the military jail Ndolo, which is located outside of Kinshasa, beneath a tent. The defendants, dressed in prison-issue blue and yellow tops, were seated in front of the judge.

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Ambassador personnel were present at the proceedings, according to State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller in Washington, and they will keep a careful eye on any further developments. "We understand that the legal process in the DRC allows for defendants to appeal the court's decision," he stated at the briefing. Jean-Jacques Wondo, a citizen of Belgium and Congo, is one of the 37 defendants. Prior to the trial, Wondo's family made video messages to Congo President Félix Tshisekedi pleading for his release.

The note read, "I beg you, intervene, he is innocent," according to his wife, Nathalie Kayembe Wondo. Requests for comments from the families of Marcel Malanga and Thompson were not answered. Brittney Sawyer, the mother of Marcel Malanga, has declared her son's innocence in the past. Miranda Thompson, Thompson's stepmother, has previously stated that her stepson took a vacation to Congo in order to experience the globe. The website that his family established to raise money for Thompson's defence claims that he feels alone and alone in prison.