The courts found guilty on Friday, September 13, a large number of the 51 defendants arrested following an attempted coup in the Democratic Republic of Congo in May. Defense lawyers have already announced their intention to appeal.
Thirty-seven defendants, including three Americans, were sentenced to death this Friday, September 13 by a military tribunal in Kinshasa at the trial of the “attempted coup d’état” which the army of the Democratic Republic of Congo said it had foiled in May. The trial has been taking place since early June in the Ndolo military prison, where the accused are being held. Those sentenced to death were found guilty of criminal conspiracy and attack, but also of terrorism, except for one of them.
Defense lawyers have said they intend to file an appeal within the legal five-day deadline, denouncing “a shameful decision tinged with bad faith”. Some rights activists had pointed out “opacity” around the interrogations conducted during the investigation.
Among the 37 on death row, six are foreign nationals: three Americans born in the United States, as well as a Belgian, a Briton and a Canadian, all three naturalized Congolese. U.S. State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said shortly afterward at a briefing that the U.S. Embassy in the DRC, which attended the trial, “will continue to monitor the situation” and a possible appeal.
Out of a total of 51 defendants, 14 were acquitted: the investigation showed that they had not “no connection” with the case, the court said. The prosecution had requested the death penalty for 50 defendants, the last of whom was declared in a medical report to have “psychological disorders” The trial ultimately shed little light on the motivations of the members of the operation, which was clearly poorly prepared to overthrow a regime, and its possible sponsors.
On May 19, late at night in Kinshasa, in the upscale Gombe neighborhood, several dozen armed men in fatigues attacked the home of a minister, Vital Kamerhe, who has since become president of the National Assembly. Two police officers assigned to guard him were killed. The attackers then invaded the nearby Palais de la Nation, a historic building housing the offices of President Félix Tshisekedi. Located near the Congo River, the place is empty at night.
The commando members filmed themselves there brandishing the flag of Zaire, the former name of the DRC under Mobutu, the dictator overthrown in 1997, and declaring the end of the regime of the current head of state, in power since 2019 and largely re-elected last December. The assault ended with the intervention of security forces who, according to the army, arrested around forty attackers and killed four others, including their leader, Christian Malanga, a 41-year-old Congolese living in the United States.
“Opacity”
The army spokesman had quickly spoken of “coup attempt nipped in the bud”the government later referring to a “attempt to destabilize institutions”Vital Kamerhe’s supporters, for their part, spoke of an assassination attempt.
Throughout the trial, the accused confined themselves to blaming the alleged leader of the commando. They had all pleaded not guilty and their lawyers demanded acquittal.
The Congolese government lifted a moratorium on the execution of the death penalty in March that had been in place since 2003, saying it was targeting in particular soldiers accused of treason, in the context of an armed rebellion supported by Rwanda in the east of the country.
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