Death sentence for 3 Americans over DR Congo coup attempt overturned

Three Americans convicted for their role in a failed coup in the Democratic Republic of Congo last year have had their death sentences commuted to life imprisonment, the presidency has said.

They were among 37 people sentenced to death last September by a military court.

The three were accused of leading an attack on both the presidential palace and the home of an ally of President Félix Tshisekedi last May.

The overturning of the sentences comes ahead of a visit to DR Congo by the newly appointed US senior advisor for Africa, Massad Boulos.

Boulos, father-in-law to President Donald Trump's daughter, Tiffany, is expected to arrive in Kinshasa today, April 3, on a trip that will also take him to Rwanda, Kenya and Uganda.

The US has not declared the three Americans to be wrongfully jailed in DR Congo but the State Department said previously there had been talks between the countries over the matter.

The three were convicted of criminal conspiracy, terrorism and other charges, which they denied.

The suspected leader of the plot, Christian Malanga, a US national of Congolese origin, 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.

Fourteen people were acquitted and freed, with the court finding they had no connection to the attack.

Death sentences have not been carried out in DR Congo for roughly two decades and convicts who receive the penalty usually serve life imprisonment instead.

Yesterday, April 2, President Tshisekedi signed orders to commute the Americans' death sentences, his spokesperson Tina Salama said in a televised statement.

The three — Marcel Malanga Malu, Tylor Thompson and Zalman-Polun Benjamin — were granted "individual clemency," by the President, according to Salama.