The Congo leader transmits the death penalty from 3 Americans convicted of a failed coup attempt

The President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo Felix Chesikdi reduced the death sentences Three Americans condemned An official said on Wednesday that the charges of participating in a failed coup attempt in the capital of Kinshasa in the country last year. A presidential order has been reduced death penalty To life imprisonment, Congolese presidential spokeswoman Tina Naama said more than six months after the three military courts and more than 30 others were sentenced to the failed coup.

The pardon came amid efforts by the Congolese authorities to sign a metal agreement with the United States in exchange for security support that will help Kinshasa fight Rwandian -backed M23 rebels in The eastern region struck the conflict.

Six people were killed during the failed coup attempt last year, led by the unknown opposition figure Christian Malanga, who targeted the presidential palace in Kinshasa as well as a close ally of TSHISECEDI. The Congolese army said that Malanga was shot dead while resisting the detention shortly after mobilizing the attack on social media.

Malanga, who declared himself “President of the New Zaire”, was a rich businessman and a former captain of the Congolese army. He stopped the elections in 2011, but was arrested and detained for several weeks.

Malanga’s 21 -year -old son, Marcel Malanga, an American citizen, was among the Americans convicted of participating in the coup plot. The other Americans are Tyler Thompson Junior, 21, a high school friend of Malanga, to Africa from Utah when his family thought it was a free vacation, and Benjamin Robin Zalman Bolon, 36, who was said to have known the Christians of Malianga through a gold mining company.

Marcel Malanga told the court that his father and Thomson forced him to participate in the attack.

“He threatened to kill us if we did not follow his orders,” he said previously.

Most of the Congolese defendants, but they also included Britain, Belgian and Canadian. Their concern included attempt to coup, terrorism and the criminal association. Fourteen people were acquitted in the trial.

Meanwhile, the US State Department announced late on Tuesday that President Trump’s new adviser to Africa, Masad Paulus, would travel to the Congo and three other African countries – Rwanda, Kenya and Uganda – starting from April 3.

The Foreign Ministry said in a statement that Paulus would make efforts for sustainable peace in the Eastern Congo and encourage the investment of the American private sector in the region.

the In January, the United Nations expressed a warning In the outbreak of the Eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, where the M23 armed group pushed the country, warns of brief executions and widespread rape. The rebels will hold the first direct talks with the Congolese government on April 9.