Three Americans convicted for their role in a failed coup in Democratic Republic of Congo last year have had their death sentences commuted to life imprisonment, and on their way home to serve their sentences in America.
They were convicted on charges of participating in a botched coup attempt in 2024.
They have been repatriated to the United States days after the country commuted their death sentences to life imprisonment, an official said Tuesday.
The three will serve their sentences in the U.S. following the repatriation done in collaboration with the U.S. Embassy, Congolese presidential spokesperson Tina Salama said on X.
Among them is 21-year-old Marcel Malanga, son of opposition figure Christian Malanga, who led the foiled coup attempt that targeted the presidential palace in Kinshasa.
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 adviser for Africa, Massad Boulos.
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 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.
The government lifted this moratorium in March this year, citing the need to remove « traitors » from the nation’s dysfunctional army.
However, no death penalties have been carried out since.
On Tuesday, 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 Thomson and Zalman Polun Benjamin – were granted « individual clemency » by the president, according to Salama.
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