3 Americans were sentenced to dying in Congo after being convicted on fees of taking part in a coup try, with one telling a courtroom that his father — who led the failed effort — “had threatened to kill us if we didn’t apply his orders.” A attorney representing 21-year-olds Marcel Malanga and Tyler Thompson Jr. and 36-year-old Benjamin Reuben Zalman-Polun, is now making plans to enchantment the decision following the botched assault orchestrated by means of Malanga’s father, Christian Malanga, in Would possibly that focused the presidential palace and an in depth best friend of President Felix Tshisekedi. “We’ve got noticed {that a} army courtroom within the Democratic Republic of Congo sentenced a variety of defendants, together with U.S. voters, to dying for alleged involvement within the Would possibly nineteenth assaults towards the federal government,” State Division spokesperson Matthew Miller mentioned Friday. “We remember the fact that the prison procedure within the DRC permits for defendants to enchantment the courtroom’s determination. Embassy workforce were attending those court cases … We will proceed to wait the court cases and apply the tendencies intently.” When requested if he concept the courtroom procedure used to be honest, Miller spoke back, “I do not wish to move judgment at the court cases to this point, as a result of we’re nonetheless in the course of the prison procedure.” AMERICANS IN ALLEGED CONGO COUP PLOT FORMED AN UNLIKELY BAND 
Benjamin Reuben Zalman-Polun, left, Marcel Malanga and Tyler Thompson, all Americans, attend a courtroom verdict in Kinshasa, Congo, on Friday Sept. 13. (AP/Samy Ntumba Shambuyi)Six folks have been killed all through the botched coup try, together with Christian Malanga, who used to be fatally shot whilst resisting arrest quickly after live-streaming the assault on his social media, the Congolese military mentioned. Marcel Malanga, who’s a U.S. citizen, advised a courtroom all through the case that his father had compelled him and his highschool good friend to participate within the assault, consistent with The Related Press. “Dad had threatened to kill us if we didn’t apply his orders,” Marcel Malanga reportedly mentioned. Different individuals of the ragtag defense force recounted an identical threats from the elder Malanga, and a few described being duped into believing they have been running for a volunteer group, the AP provides. Marcel’s mom, Brittney Sawyer, maintains that her son is blameless and used to be merely following his father, who thought to be himself president of a shadow executive in exile. FLASHBACK: CONGO HASN’T ALLOWED US ACCESS TO AMERICANS ARRESTED IN COUP ATTEMPT, EMBASSY SAYS 
American Marcel Malanga, fourth proper, stands with others all through the courtroom verdict on Friday. (AP/Samy Ntumba Shambuyi)Thompson Jr. flew to Africa from Utah with the more youthful Malanga for what his circle of relatives believed used to be a loose holiday, and Zalman-Polun is reported to have identified Christian Malanga via a gold mining corporate. Thompson’s circle of relatives says he had no wisdom of the elder Malanga’s intentions, no plans for political activism and didn’t even plan to go into Congo. He and the Malangas have been intended to go back and forth best to South Africa and Eswatini, his stepmother, Miranda Thompson, advised the AP. “We urge all who’ve supported Tyler and the circle of relatives all the way through this procedure to write down on your congressmen and request their help in bringing him house,” their attorney in Utah, Skye Lazaro, mentioned to the scoop company, including that the circle of relatives is heartbroken over the decision. Sen. Mike Lee and a spokesperson for Sen. Mitt Romney mentioned they’re each engaged with the State Division over the topic. 
Guns and armed forces uniforms utilized by the accused of a failed alleged coup try are displayed on the first listening to of the trial on the Ndolo Jail in Kinshasa on June 7, 2024. (Arsene Mpiana/AFP by the use of Getty Photographs)CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP Along with the 3 American citizens, a Briton, a Belgian and a Canadian have been sentenced to dying after being convicted of taking part within the plot, in conjunction with 27 others. The Related Press contributed to this record. Greg Norman is a reporter at Fox Information Virtual.
