Three Americans have been transferred to the United States after their death sentences over a foiled deadly coup were commuted to life imprisonment last week by Congolese authorities, in the wake of talks with US government officials.
The Americans, Marcel Malanga, Tyler Thompson Jr., and Benjamin Reuben Zalman-Polun were among 37 people sentenced to death by a military court in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in September for participating in the failed coup led by Malanga’s father, Christian.
At least six people, including Christian Malanga, an opposition politician were killed in a gun battle with presidential guards as the putschists sought to overthrow the government last May.
She earlier said the clemency decision was filed by the public prosecutor and recommended by the DRC justice minister.
DRC’s presidency said in a statement Tuesday that the repatriation of the Americans to the US was “part of a dynamic effort to strengthen judicial diplomacy and international cooperation in matters of justice and human rights between the two countries.”
The repatriation appears to soften the ground for a mooted minerals-for-security partnership between the US and the DRC as war rages in the country’s resource-rich eastern region between government forces and a rebel group.
Last week, DRC President Felix Tshisekedi held talks with the visiting US Senior Adviser for Africa Massad Boulos, and Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Corina Sanders in the capital Kinshasa.
Those discussions “yielded agreement on two important goals: A lasting peace that affirms the territorial integrity of the DRC (and) strengthening of economic ties, including private sector investment in the mining sector,” Salama wrote in a post on X on April 3.