In the Democratic Republic of Congo, 37 defendants, including three Americans, sentenced to death for the “attempted coup” in May

Thirty-seven defendants, including three Americans, were tried for “coup attempt” who the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) army said it thwarted in May were sentenced to death by a military court in Kinshasa on Friday, September 13.

“The court pronounces the strongest sentence: the death penalty”Major Freddy Ehume, president of the court that has been sitting since June in the Ndolo military prison, where the accused are being held, repeated for each of the convicted men.

Those sentenced to death were found guilty of conspiracy to commit crimes and attempted murder, but also of terrorism, except for one of them. Of the thirty-seven, six are foreign nationals. They are three Americans born in the United States, a Belgian, a British and a Canadian. The last three also have Congolese nationality, obtained by naturalization. The defense lawyers have already announced their intention to appeal. They have five days to do so.

Fourteen of the fifty-one defendants were acquitted, as the investigation showed that they had not “no connection” with the case.

The announcement of the sentences, which lasted more than four hours, was followed by an uproar from the public, including relatives gathered under the large tent set up in one of the prison courtyards.

The prosecutor had requested the death penalty for fifty defendants, the last of whom had been declared in a medical report to be suffering from “psychological disorders”.

The trial provided few details about the motivations of those involved in the clearly ill-prepared operation and their potential backers.

End of the diet

On May 19, late at night in Kinshasa, in the upmarket district of Gombe, several dozen armed men in uniform attacked the home of a minister, Vital Kamerhe, who has since become president of the National Assembly. Two police officers assigned to protect him were killed. The attackers then invaded the Palace of the Nation, a historic building that houses the offices of the President of the Republic, Félix Tshisekedi. Located near the Congo River, the place is deserted at night.

The commando members filmed themselves waving the flag of Zaire, the name of the Democratic Republic of Congo under the reign of Mobutu, the dictator overthrown in 1997, and declaring the end of the regime of the current head of state, in power since 2019 and re-elected in December 2023. During the trial, the flag in question and several dozen assault rifles were presented as evidence.

The operation ended with the intervention of the security forces who, according to the army, arrested about forty attackers and killed four others, including the leader of the group, Christian Malanga, a 41-year-old Congolese living in the United States. The army spokesman quickly spoke of “Coup attempt nipped in the bud.” The government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, for its part, later mentioned a “Attempt to destabilize institutions” of the country. Supporters of Vital Kamerhe, for their part, spoke of an attempted assassination.

Human rights defenders denounce “opacity” interrogations of alleged coup plotters. Throughout the trial, the defendants simply blamed the alleged leader of the commando for the events. They all declared themselves innocent and their lawyers asked for their acquittal.

In March, the government of the Democratic Republic of Congo lifted a moratorium on the death penalty that had been in force since 2003, amid a Rwandan-backed armed rebellion in the east of the country.