Three Americans are accused of trying to overthrow Congo's president. They're now sentenced to death.
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
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, Malangaand 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.
The U.S. government has not declared them wrongfully convicted, making it less likely that officials would try to negotiate their return.
They were convicted alongside another American, a British citizen, a Belgian, a Canadian andCongolese co-defendants. The lawyer who defended the foreigners said he would appeal their verdicts.
But between the coup and the sentence, it remains unclear exactly how two young men from Salt Lake City found themselves embroiled in a plot to overthrow a government8,500 miles away.
Five years ago, while playing for the Copper Hills High School football team, Thompson met Marcel Malanga, the son of Christian Malanga.
The elder Malanga was born in the DRC but moved to the U.S. with his family in the 1990s as a refugee and later became an American citizen, according to BBC Pidgin.He had sold used cars and dabbled in gold mining in the U.S.
After a stint back in the DRC, where he joined the army and became disillusioned, Malanga created a government-in-exile in Brussels in 2017, calling it the New Zaire Movement. He proclaimed himself president of the United Congolese Party and railed against what he saw as vast government corruption in the DRC.
On May 19, he assembled a ragtag band of a few dozen paramilitaries, leading them in an extraordinarily ambitious yet ultimately amateurish attempt to unseat Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi.
The attempted coup began in the early hours before dawn as armed men attacked first the home of parliamentary speaker Vital Kamerhe, before they headed to the president's official residence.
Witnesses say a group of about 20 assailants attacked the palace before an exchange of gunfire, while Christian Malanga livestreamed video showing him surrounded by men in military uniforms.
Standing next tohis son,Christian Malanga said the Congolese military is tired of the president, who he says has "messed up the country and must leave office."
Within hours, Christian Malanga was shot dead after resisting arrest, according to Congolese authorities. Five others were also killed.
Some 50 others were then arrested by Congolese forces. Among them were Thompson, Malanga's son Marcel, and 36-year-old Benjamin Reuben Zalman-Polun, a convicted drug trafficker from Maryland.
The trio were brought to a high-security military prison in the capital Kinshasa and pictured with shaved heads in jail uniforms. Videos taken in Kinshasa after the aborted coup showed Thompson being hit with the butt of a rifle by security forces.
Back in West Jordan, Utah, a suburb of Salt Lake City, residents could scarcely believe their lives had become so closely intertwined with a coup d'etat in the DRC.
Thompson's family say they believed their son was going on a free vacation, and that they had no knowledge of the elder Malanga's intentions. Thompson's stepmother said she thought he and the Malangas were visiting South Africa and Eswatini.
"We have no idea how he got mixed up in all of this. He was on vacation with his friend's family, and the next thing we know is he's been arrested in the DRC," she said in a social media post.
The U.S. State Department strongly advises against travel to Congo, warning of crime and civil unrest.
Sawyer, Marcel Malanga's mother, says her son is innocent and was swept up in events outside of his control. "This was an innocent boy following his father," Sawyer wrote in a Facebook post in June.
Malanga has said his father threatened to kill him and Thompson if they did not take part in the coup.
But Malanga's teammates shared concerns that he had recruited Thompson under false pretenses. Several players told The Associated Press that they had also been invited to travel to the DRC on a trip that was pitched interchangeably as a family vacation or a service trip to build wells. Others have alleged that Malanga offered up to $100,000 to serve as security guards for his father.
They said Thompson was the only former teammate to accept the invitation.
Zalman-Polun is reported to have known the elder Malanga through a gold mining company.
Congo reinstated the death penalty after more than two decades in March, citing the need to remove "traitors" from the army as authorities struggle to curb militant attacks in the nation. However, no death penalties have been carried out since.
Should the penalty be carried out, the men convicted would likely be executed by firing squad.
The Associated Press contributed.
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Have met a few Mormons over the years.
Not a damn one of them had brain one.
if you get killed during your LDS mission, I think you automatically get your own planet.
that is if I haven't got my cults confused ...
my old condo complex was a mile from a LDS temple and I loved to head fuck those missionaries. I had one square off with me when I told him door to door proselytizing was soliciting, so I called the cops on his dumb ass for trespassing. when they came back to the complex later, an HOA board member and I tossed their bikes into the duck pond. never saw them again.
I remember on an episode of Reno 911 (a spoof on cops) two of the officers acted like there was an APB on two home invaders and they had these two guys on the ground face down and crying - that they said fit the description of the home invaders - and when they went through the guys knapsack there were pamphlets and the one sheriff deputy said 'they're Jehovah's witnesses' and they said mistaken identity - sorry guys...lol
They knew they were Jehovah's Witnesses and as they drove away one said to the other - 'I hate those religious people' - lolol
I had two come to my door one day and I told them it wasn't a good time and they said when was a good time to come back and I said there wasn't one - and he repeated it back to me - 'there isn't one?' and I said 'no' and closed the door.
I consider it trespassing.
when I was a kid, my mom used to tell them we were catholic and they would walk away. we weren't ...
I had some neighbors who were Jehovah's witnesses who lived across the street from me in my old neighborhood and they were very nice people. Very kind. The husband was always lending a hand when he saw I was struggling with something.
They're not all the same of course but as a whole....
I had a client that used to call me every year after I sent out my generic happy holiday cards at xmas and tell me his family didn't celebrate the holiday ... ... oops.
I also grew up with the guy - he used to live a few blocks away. When he got married they had the house built across the street from me.
What trusting souls we have in America.
A vacation in the fucking Congo!
A once in a lifetime trip?
gullible morons, natural selection ...
He cried in a whisper at some image, at some vision—he cried out twice, a cry that was no more than a breath: “‘The horror! The horror!
The Fart Of Darkness...
I feel terrible for his parents. This is an awful way to lose your child.
But damn, he really should have known to steer clear.
It's so damn frustrating. These people going around the world getting themselves UNOFFICIALLY involved in international affairs and then needing balling out. It's all a bit much. When visiting a foreign country it is advisable to remember one is a GUEST there and not to take on roles that fall to the citizenry. (You will not be treated in a manner consistent with 'belonging.')
And now, the 'crying' starts. . . . 'Everybody' is sad and wants their 'child' back. . . but, damn who told him or her to 'go' there in the first place? WHO?! (Rhetorical.)
It doesn't sound like there will be any "bailing out". This is not considered to be a wrongful conviction. He went to a country the State Department recommends we steer clear of, and kept company with men attempting a coup.
Agreed. When will our citizens realize (for their families' sake anyway) that our government can only do so much when international legalities or "heavy-handed" politics is involved? I get it. We travel the world. We want to be 'ourselves' wherever we land and show interest, but then again presidents (state departments) are not nearly able or inclined to drop other pressing matters to deal with this kind of issue-even when it involves a return home to a prison sentence.
Families have this formulate strategy that they can add pressure on a sitting president (to give aid/release): 1. During a presidential campaign season. 2. Doing media appearances. 3. Attending campaign 'stops.'
It's all so frustrating.
I don’t think that any of us know what these Americans, Brit, Canuck or Belgian knew, what their motivations were or any facts in the case other than they were there and were arrested.
That is what we know. . . . up front.
Yes, we know what the State Department says in their general warning.
Then they should stay their butts at home and sit down! It's so frustrating to always be 'clutching (my) pearls" over these people who see world controversies as opportunities to "go' and intentionally or unintentionally make a name for themselves (at the expense of others).
Yes, that would have been smarter. Not all 21 year olds have that wisdom.
Again, Tyler Thomson reportadly thought he was going to visit the family of his high-school friend, Miranda.
I get it. The frustration at the 'end result' remains the same! Stressed out families, pleading relatives, on our television cable news shows wanting relief. . . .
I have no idea what you mean.
Don't do the crime if you can't do the time
I think the sentence was execution, not 'time'.
But you're right, if the DRC finds one guilty, you can be assured that it is so.
I know but the sentiment still applies
Good point, there is no doubt that they did the crime.