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Africa Subsaharan

DRC 'thwarted coup' trial gets underway in Kinshasa

2024-06-08

[AFRICANEWS] Some 50 people, including 3 Americans, appeared in a military court in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

...formerly the Congo Free State, Belgian Congo, Zaire, and who knows what else, not to be confused with the Brazzaville Congo aka Republic of Congo, which is much smaller and much more (for Africa) stable. DRC gave the world Patrice Lumumba and Joseph Mobutu, followed by years of tedious civil war. Its principle industry seems to be the production of corpses. With a population of about 74 million it has lots of raw material...
on Friday in connection with last month’s failed coup.

They are facing charges including terrorism, attempted liquidation, illegal possession of weapons and arms of war, and financing of terrorism related to the "attempted coup" on 19 May.

Six people were killed during the attack led by little-known opposition figure Christian Malanga, which targeted the presidential palace and a close ally of the President Felix Tshisekedi.

Army officials say Malanga, who lived in the United States, was rubbed out for resisting arrest soon after live-streaming the attack.

Malanga’s son Marcel, who was born in the US, appeared alongside fellow Americans, Tyler Thompson and Benjamin Reuben Zalman-Polun.

They were lined up on plastic chairs before the judge in the military court in Kinshasa on the first day of the hearing along with the other defendants.

Human Rights Watch has called on the DRC government to accord the accused a fair and transparent trial.

The US embassy said on Monday it had not had access to its citizens to provide consular services. All three have requested an interpreter to translate from French to English.

Many of the charges they face are punishable by death.

Posted by:Fred

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