37 people – including three Americans, a Briton, a Belgian and a Canadian – have been sentenced to death for attempting to overthrow the president of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The men are accused of leading the attack on the presidential palace and the home of the President’s colleague Félix Tshisekedi in May.
Christian Malanga, an American of Congolese origin, and suspected of being the leader of the plot, was killed during the attack, along with five others.
A total of 51 people were tried in a military court, the cases were broadcast on national television and radio.
Death sentences have not been carried out in DR Congo for almost two decades – prisoners who receive this sentence serve life in prison.
The government raised this decision in March this year, and expressed the need to remove “traitors” from the national army that is not working properly. However, no death sentences have been handed down since then.
The coup attempt in question started in the capital, Kinshasa, in the morning of May 19. Armed men first attacked the house of the Speaker of Parliament Vital Kamerhe in Kinshasa and then headed for the president’s residence.
Eyewitnesses said that a group of about 20 attackers wearing military uniforms attacked the palace and shots were fired.
A military spokesman later announced on national television that security forces had stopped “coup attempts”.
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