MBABANE:Eswatini Defense Principal Secretary Prince Sicalo alleged rebels who attempted to overthrow Felix Tshisekedi, the democratically elected President of the Democratic Republic of Congo(DRC) has been sentenced to death by that country’s Military Court.
The rebels who were led by the late Christian Malinga, a Congolese national who was very close to the influential Prince, were allegedly training in eSwatini and were provided with travels documents while planning the coup.
On Friday evening, Aljazeera reported that, a Military Court in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has sentenced to death thirty-seven(37) people, including three(3) United States citizens, on charges of taking part in the May failed coup.
“The court pronounces the harshest sentence: the death penalty for criminal association, the death penalty for attack, the death penalty for terrorism,” the court’s President, Freddy Ehume, said in a verdict read on live television on Friday.
But the defendants including a Briton, Belgian and Canadian, have five(5) days to appeal the verdict, fourteen(14) people were acquitted in the trial, which opened in June.
It has been reported that, Richard Bondo, the lawyer who defended the six(6) foreigners, told The Associated Press news agency he disputed whether the death penalty could currently be imposed in the DRC despite its reinstatement this year and said his clients had inadequate interpreters during the investigation of the case.
“We will challenge this decision on appeal,” said the lawyer.
From left, Benjamin Zalman Polun, Marcel Malanga and Taylor Thompson, American citizens suspected along with a group of about 50 other people to be involved in an attempted coup in the DRC, wait for the verdict during their trial in Kinshasa on September 13, 2024 [Justin Makangara/ Reuters]