DRC coup convicts sent back to US
Publish date: 14 April 2025
Issue Number: 1121
Diary: IBA Legalbrief Africa
Category: Criminal
Three Americans convicted for their role in a failed coup in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) last year have been sent home to the US to serve the rest of their jail terms, reports BBC News. The three were originally sentenced to death by a military court before their sentences were commuted to life in prison last week. US Department of State spokesperson Tammy Bruce said the three were ‘in our custody’. The repatriation comes as the US and DRC explore a deal to exploit the central African country's huge mineral wealth. The previous week, US President Donald Trump's senior adviser for Africa visited DRC and confirmed that the two countries were in talks about minerals and said it could involve ‘multibillion-dollar investments’. The DRC has large deposits of coltan and cobalt, used in electronic equipment and batteries for electric cars, which are currently largely extracted by Chinese mining companies. The three American convicts – Marcel Malanga Malu, Tylor Thomson and Zalman Polun Benjamin – left DRC on Tuesday to serve the remainder of their sentences in the US, said Congolese presidential spokesperson Tina Salama. They were escorted to N'Djili International Airport in Kinshasa in ‘strict compliance with legal procedures’, said DRC’s Presidency.
The transfer ‘is part of a dynamic of strengthening judicial diplomacy and international co-operation in matters of justice and human rights’ between DRC and the US, the Presidency added. The Americans were among 37 people sentenced to death last September by a military court. Jean-Jacques Wondo, a dual Congolese and Belgian citizen who was also sentenced to death, was in February transferred to Belgium because of ill-health, according to BBC News. It is not clear if the other convicts, who include a Briton, a Belgian and a Canadian national, will also have their sentences commuted. They were accused of leading an attack on both the Presidential palace and the home of an ally of President Félix Tshisekedi last May. Later they were convicted of criminal conspiracy, terrorism and other charges, which they denied.
