DRC: US, British Nationals Among 37 Sentenced To Death Over Coup Attempt

At least 37 persons have been sentenced to death in Democratic Republic of Congo for their roles in an attempted coup to overthrow the country’s leader, President Félix Tshisekedi.

Among the 37 persons are three Americans, a Briton, a Belgian and a Canadian national.

They were alleged to have led an attack on both the presidential palace and the home of an ally of President 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.

The attempted coup in question 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”.

Malanga’s son Marcel, one of the US citizens sentenced to death had told the court that his father threatened to kill him if he fails to take part in the coup plotting and execution.

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

The family had “zero idea” how he had ended up in DR Congo, Tyler’s stepmother, Miranda Thompson told BBC in June.

Like most African country’s, death sentences have not been executed in DR Congo in the last two decades.

Convicts who receive death penalty are often commuted to life imprisonment. This according to analyst is to keep a record of human rights.