By Enyichukwu Enemanna
Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) authorities have commuted to life imprisonment the death sentences handed to three American citizens following their conviction last year in the East African country’s failed coup, the presidency has announced.
The orders commuting their death sentences were signed by President Félix Tshisekedi on Tuesday, his spokesperson, Tina Salama, said in a televised statement.
The three convicts, Marcel Malanga Malu, Tylor Thomson, and Zalman Polun Benjamin, were granted “individual clemency” by the President, Salama said.
They were accused of leading an attack on both the presidential palace and the home of an ally of President Félix Tshisekedi last May and were later convicted of criminal conspiracy, terrorism, and other charges, which they denied.
They, along with 34 others, were subsequently tried in a military court and sentenced to death in September.
The reversal of the sentences comes ahead of a visit to the DR Congo by the newly appointed US senior adviser for Africa, Massad Boulos.
Boulos, father-in-law to President Donald Trump’s daughter, Tiffany, is expected to arrive in Kinshasa on Thursday on a trip during which he is also expected to visit Rwanda, Kenya, and Uganda.
Though America has not declared the three citizens wrongfully convicted by the DRC, the US State Department had earlier stated that discussions between the two countries were ongoing.
The suspected leader of the plot, Christian Malanga, a US national of Congolese origin, was killed along with five others during the failed coup.
A total of 51 people were tried in a military court; 14 were freed when it was discovered that they had no connection to the attack. Their court proceedings were broadcast on national TV and radio.
Ckiness Ciamba, one of Malanga’s lawyers, told Reuters news agency that the “presidential pardon is a first step that promises major changes in the future”.
It is also unclear whether the other convicts, including a Briton, a Belgian, and a Canadian national, will have their sentences commuted.
The attempted coup began in the capital, Kinshasa, in the early hours of 19 May, when armed men first attacked parliamentary speaker Vital Kamerhe’s home before heading to the president’s official residence.
