KINSHASA, Congo (AP) — A military tribunal in Congo, one of Africa’s largest countries, has convicted three Americans and dozens of others of involvement in an attempted coup and sentenced them to the maximum penalty of death.
The court convicted and sentenced 37 defendants, including three Americans, to death in a verdict handed down in a field military tribunal by presiding Judge Maj. Freddy Efuma.
The defendants, most of whom are Congolese but also include British, Belgian and Canadian nationals, are charged with terrorism, murder, criminal organisation and illegal possession of weapons.
Lawyers representing the six foreigners said they would appeal the verdict.
The US State Department has warned of violent crime and civil unrest and strongly advised against traveling to Congo. Here’s how three Americans found themselves caught in the crossfire of the attempted coup.
What happened during the May coup attempt?
In Kinshasa, the Congo’s capital, a motley group that included three Americans was trying to unseat the country’s president, Felix Tshisekedi, led by Christian Malanga, a little-known opposition leader who, after a career selling used cars and mining gold, had persuaded his Utah-born son to join the thwarted coup.
The attempted coup began at the Kinshasa compound of Vital Kamerhe, a close aide to Tshisekedi and a federal lawmaker and candidate for speaker of Congo’s parliament. Officials said Kamerhe’s bodyguards killed some of the attackers.
Meanwhile, suspect Christian Malanga was seen in a livestream video from the presidential palace wandering around in the middle of the night surrounded by armed men in military uniforms. Congolese authorities said he was killed when he resisted arrest.
Dozens of people, including Malanga’s son and two other Americans, were arrested and taken to a maximum-security military prison in Kinshasa, where family members said the young people were sleeping on the floor, suffering health problems and having to pay for food and hygiene products.
Cristian Malanga, the unlikely coup leader
Born in Kinshasa, Malanga presented himself as a successful refugee who resettled with his family in the United States in the 1990s, became a leader in Congo’s opposition party, met with officials from Washington and the Vatican and was a devoted husband and father of eight children.
Court records and interviews paint a different picture. In 2001, the year he turned 18, Malanga was convicted of assault with a firearm in Utah and received 30 days in jail and three years of probation. That same year, he was charged with one count of domestic violence and another count of assault and disturbance of the peace, but he pleaded not guilty and both charges were dismissed.
In 2004, he was charged with domestic violence and threatening to use a dangerous weapon, but he pleaded not guilty and the charges were again dismissed. Since 2004, records show multiple incidents related to custody and child support disputes.
How three young Americans got caught up in an attempted coup
The three Americans jailed are Malanga’s 21-year-old son, Marcel Malanga; Tyler Thompson Jr., 21, who flew to Africa from Utah with Malanga on what the family believed was a free vacation; and Benjamin Ruben Zalman Porn, 36, who reportedly met Christian Malanga through a gold mining company.
Marcel Malanga is a U.S. citizen born in Utah, and he said in court that his father threatened to kill him and Thompson if they did not take part in the raid.
His mother, Brittney Sawyer, says her son is innocent and was simply following his father, who describes himself as president of a shadow government in exile.
Thompson was a high school friend and football teammate in West Jordan, a suburb of Salt Lake City. He was the only former teammate to accept Malanga’s invitation to go to Congo. Several other players who spoke to the Associated Press said they were invited by Malanga, who offered them a family vacation and a volunteer trip to build wells instead. Other teammates claimed Malanga offered them up to $100,000 to accompany him on a “security job” in Congo.
Thompson’s family maintains that he had no knowledge of Malanga’s intentions, had no plans for political activity and no plans to enter Congo. Thompson and Malanga had only planned to travel to South Africa and Eswatini, said his mother-in-law, Miranda Thompson.
What happens next?
All those convicted have five days to appeal, and Richard Bond, the lawyer who represented the Americans and three other foreigners, said he plans to appeal.
Congo earlier this year reinstated the death penalty after more than two decades of moratorium on executions as authorities struggle to curb violence and extremist attacks in the country. The men convicted in the coup attempt will likely be executed by firing squad.
The State Department has not declared that the Americans were wrongfully detained, and U.S. authorities are unlikely to try to negotiate their return.
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Pronczuk reported from Dakar, Senegal, and Schoenbaum reported from Salt Lake City.
