"A military court in Congo handed down death sentences Friday to 37 people, including three Americans, after convicting them on charges of taking part in a coup attempt.The defendants, who also included a Briton, Belgian, Canadian and several Congolese, can appeal the verdict on charges that included terrorism, murder and criminal association. Fourteen people were acquitted in the trial, which opened in June.Six people were killed during the botched coup attempt led by the little-known opposition figure Christian Malanga in May that targeted the presidential palace and a close ally of President Felix Tshisekedi. Malanga was fatally shot while resisting arrest soon after live-streaming the attack on his social media, the Congolese army said. A website in Christian Malanga’s name said his family settled in Salt Lake City in the 1990s as part of a refugee-resettlement program. He participated in the U.S. Army Junior ROTC, it said. He returned to Congo to run for political office in 2011 but was arrested “on bogus charges” and held for several weeks by police officers who beat him, it said. In July, Marcel Malanga told the court he was not involved in planning the coup and that he and Thompson had been forced to join in while visiting his father. “Dad had threatened to kill us if we did not follow his orders,” Reuters quoted him as saying." WJ
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