Tshisekedi grants clemency to Americans sentenced to death for role in failed coup d’état

By The Inspirer.

President Félix Tshisekedi of the Democratic Republic of Congo has commuted the death sentences of three Americans who were convicted for being part of a group that attempted to overthrow the government last year.

A presidential decree, announced on national television on Tuesday night, stated that the three individuals are Marcel Malanga Malu, Tyler Thompson, and Zalman-Polun Benjamin Reuben.

They had been sentenced to death in September 2024. The decree states that the decision, approved by a military court on January 27 this year, became “final” on March 9.

President Tshisekedi granted clemency based on a request for leniency from the prosecution, as well as the recommendation of the Minister of Justice.

In September 2024, a total of 37 people — including the three Americans, a British national, a Belgian, and a Canadian — were sentenced to death after being found guilty of attempting to overthrow the President of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

In February this year, Jean-Jacques Wondo, a Congolese-Belgian national, was released by the Congolese judiciary on compassionate grounds to seek medical treatment in Belgium, where he remains.
Wondo, a researcher and security expert, had been accused of being the “mastermind” behind the attempted coup.

In total, 51 individuals were tried by a military court, with proceedings broadcast on national radio and television.

The accused were charged with launching an attack on May 19, 2024, targeting the presidential palace and the home of Vital Kamerhe, now Speaker of the National Assembly, who at the time was about to assume that role.

Christian Malanga, an American of Congolese descent and the alleged leader of the plot, was killed during the attack, along with five others involved.

His son Marcel, one of the three Americans who received clemency, told the court that his father had threatened to kill him if he refused to join the attack.

Tyler Thompson, a close friend of Marcel and also in his early 20s, used to play football with him in the U.S. state of Utah.

Last year, Thompson’s stepmother, Miranda Thompson, told the BBC that she had “absolutely no idea” how Tyler ended up in DR Congo.

She said: “We were completely shocked about what was going on and what we didn’t know.
Everything we learned came from Google.”

The third American, Benjamin Zalman-Polun, had business dealings with Christian Malanga.

Although the death penalty has not been enforced in the DRC for nearly 20 years — with those sentenced instead receiving life imprisonment — in March 2024, the government lifted the moratorium on executions, citing the need to rid the military of “traitors” who were weakening the country’s defense forces. However, no executions have been carried out since the moratorium was lifted.