A military court in the Democratic Republic of Congo is set on Friday to deliver its verdict over what the army says was a coup attempt, in which defendants, including three Americans, risk the death penalty.Fifty-one people face charges over the incident, which began in the early hours of May 19 when armed men attacked the home of then economy minister Vital Kamerhe, who is now national assembly president. The group then went to a building housing President Felix Tshisekedi’s offices brandishing flags of Zaire, the country’s name under ex-dictator Mobutu Sese Seko, who was overthrown in 1997.Shots were heard near the building, several sources said at the time.An army spokesman later announced on national TV that defence and security forces had stopped “an attempted coup d’etat”.The alleged plot was led by Christian Malanga, a Congolese man who was a “naturalised American” and who was killed by security forces, army spokesman General Sylvain Ekenge has said.The three Americans on trial at the Kinshasa military court include Malanga’s son Marcel Malanga.The two other Americans being tried are 22-year-old Tyler Thompson and Benjamin Zalman-Polun, 36.The defendants also include a Belgian, a Briton and a Canadian who are all naturalised Congolese.The trial began on June 7 in Ndolo military prison, where all the defendants are being held.The charges include “attack, terrorism, illegal possession of weapons and munitions of war, attempted assassination, criminal association, murder (and) financing of terrorism”.The proceedings have shed little light on the motivations behind the events on May 19, for which the defendants placed the blame on Christian Malanga.Thompson told the court he had been “forced” into participating, as did the two other US citizens Zalman-Polun and Marcel Malanga. “I was forced to carry an arm,” Thompson said.”I came to the DRC (Democratic Republic of Congo) to visit Marcel’s family who I had never seen before,” he added. Malanga said his father had “told us he would kill us if we didn’t listen”, and Zalman-Polun said he was “kidnapped” and “forced” into taking part.In late August, military prosecutor Lieutenant Colonel Innocent Radjabu urged judges to sentence to death all but one of the defendants.In March, the Congolese government defied criticism from human rights organisations and lifted a moratorium on the death penalty in place since 2003.
