Three Americans are accused of trying to overthrow Congo's president. They're now sentenced to death.
When 21-year-old Tyler Thompson boarded a plane in Utah this April, his stepmother, Miranda Thompson, thought he was bound for South Africa, traveling with his high school buddy, Marcel Malanga, on a once-in-a-lifetime trip to explore the world.
When 21-year-old Tyler Thompson boarded a plane in Utah this April, his stepmother, Miranda Thompson, thought he was bound for South Africa, traveling with his high school buddy, Marcel Malanga, on a once-in-a-lifetime trip to explore the world.
Instead, he was entangled in the deluded efforts of a self-styled warlord to overthrow the president of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, one of Africa’s largest nations, in a series of events that unfolded over five months and ended with his death sentence, delivered by a Congolese military court on Friday.
Thompson, Malanga and 35 others, who were convicted of taking part in the botched coup, were charged with terrorism, murder, criminal association and illegal possession of weapons, among other charges.
Thompson’s family — who told the BBC in June that they had “zero idea” how he ended up in the DRC — said the verdict had left them “heartbroken,” and that they continued to believe in his innocence. Malanga’s mother, Brittney Sawyer, also says her son is innocent.
State Department spokesperson Matt Miller said, “We understand that the legal process in the DRC allows for defendants to appeal the court’s decision,” and that the U.S. would not pass judgment yet. Embassy staff would continue to attend the proceedings and follow developments.
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