Left to right: Tyler Thompson Jr., Benjamin Reuben Zalman-Polun and Marcel Malanga upon their release from a Congolese prison.
DRC Government handout.
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DRC Government handout.
Three Americans who were originally sentenced to death for their part in an attempted coup in the Democratic Republic of Congo last May have been put on a plane to the U.S., according to the spokesperson for the Congolese president. The U.S. embassy in Kinshasa has confirmed the news to NPR and says the three have now been handed over to American authorities.
Marcel Malanga, 22, his close friend from Utah, 21-year-old Tyler Thompson Jr., and 36-year-old Maryland native Benjamin Reuben Zalman-Polun were among the 37 people handed death sentences by a military court in September following an attempt to overthrow the government of President Felix Tshisekedi.
The coup attempt was led by Marcel Malanga’s father, Congolese political exile and longtime U.S. resident Christian Malanga, who was killed in a gun battle during the bungled operation that was partially livestreamed on social media.
Their death sentences were commuted by President Tshisekedi, and reduced to life imprisonment shortly before last week’s visit by President Trump’s senior adviser to Africa, Massad Boulos.
Boulos — who is the father-in-law of President Trump’s younger daughter Tiffany Trump — was in the Central African country last week amid speculation surrounding a possible minerals-for-security deal.
