Death Sentences Commuted for 3 Americans Over Failed Congo Coup

Three American citizens who were sentenced to death over a failed coup attempt in the Democratic Republic of Congo have had their sentences commuted to life imprisonment, according to a spokeswoman for the Central African country’s president.

The three Americans were among 37 people condemned to death last September after taking part in a May 2024 attack on the government that was streamed live and included a gun battle near the presidential palace.

Security forces killed the coup leader, Christian Malanga, a minor opposition politician. But his son, Marcel Malanga, was arrested along with his high school friend Tyler Thompson and Benjamin Zalman-Polun, a business associate of Christian Malanga’s.

Those three men — who are all American citizens — were singled out and granted “individual clemency,” Tina Salama, the Congolese president’s spokeswoman, said in a post late Tuesday on X. There was no immediate comment from the U.S. State Department.

Congo has been trying to enlist American support against neighboring Rwanda and a rebel militia that Rwanda directs and arms, M23. Since January, M23 has torn through eastern Congo, seizing vast tracts of land and major cities. Thousands of civilians, soldiers and allied militia fighters have been killed in the rebel offensive, which has also left millions destitute.

In an interview with The New York Times in February, Congo’s president, Felix Tshisekedi, offered the United States a stake in his country’s vast mineral wealth, saying that such a deal would bring his country more security and stability. Experts agree that U.S. pressure on Rwanda could be one of the few things that might induce M23 to pull back.

But later that month, President Trump’s special envoy for hostages, Adam Boehler, linked the conflict to the fate of the three American citizens.

“The President of Congo is holding 3 Americans now,” he wrote on X. “Perhaps it would be better if Rwanda won the war?”

Marcel Malanga has denied involvement in planning the coup, saying that he and Mr. Thompson were forced to join in while visiting his father.

At around the same time that Ms. Salama announced clemency for the men on Tuesday, the U.S. State Department released a statement saying that it had appointed a senior adviser for Africa, Massad Boulos. It said that Mr. Boulos would travel to Congo on Thursday and then to neighboring countries, including Rwanda, “to advance efforts for durable peace in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo and to promote U.S. private-sector investment in the region.”

Mr. Boulos — whose son is married to one of Mr. Trump’s daughters — has spent much of his career in Nigeria, where he is chief executive of a family business that sells trucks and heavy machinery. He was previously named as the president’s senior adviser on Arab and Middle Eastern Affairs after helping persuade Arab American voters in Michigan to support Mr. Trump, though it was unclear what exactly that role entails.

Since taking office, Mr. Trump has taken a transactional approach to foreign policy, seeking deference and business deals from U.S. allies in return for help.

Some Congolese observers said that in the context of a possible minerals deal, the clemency granted to the three Americans was to be expected. But others criticized their president for applying double standards to Americans and Congolese.

“When we say that in Congo foreigners are treated better than citizens, here is the proof,” Sylvain-Parizel Kapay, a lawyer based in Kinshasa, wrote on social media.