A military court in Congo sentenced three U.S. citizens to death on Sept. 13 for their alleged involvement in a failed coup attempt targeting the government of Congolese President Félix Tshisekedi.
Benjamin Reuben Zalman-Polun, 36, Marcel Malanga, 21, and Tyler Thompson, 21, were among 37 individuals who received the death penalty on Friday after being convicted on charges of conspiracy, terrorism, and attempted coup.
The verdict was handed down in an open-air court session in the yard of a military prison on the outskirts of Kinshasa, the capital of the Congo, on Friday, and read out on live TV.
Most of the defendants were Congolese but, besides the three Americans, there was also a Briton, a Belgian, and a Canadian. The defendants, who wore blue and yellow prison-issued tops as they sat before the judge, were given five days to appeal their sentences.
Richard Bondo, a lawyer who defended the six foreigners, argued that the investigation was flawed because his clients were given inadequate interpreters. He vowed to appeal the verdict. […]
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