Three U.S. citizens were sentenced to death by a military court on Friday for their role in a failed coup in the Democratic Republic of Congo. - REUTERS
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00:00Three U.S. citizens were among 37 defendants sentenced to death by a military court on
00:06Friday for their role in a failed coup in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
00:12Armed men briefly occupied an office of the presidency on May 19, before their leader,
00:18U.S.-based Congolese politician Christian Malanga, was killed by security forces.
00:24His son, Marcel Malanga, was among the Americans on trial, along with Marcel's friend Tyler
00:31Thompson, who played high school football with him in Utah.
00:35Both are in their 20s.
00:36The third American, Benjamin Zelman Palloune, was a business associate of Christian Malanga.
00:42All three were found guilty of criminal conspiracy, terrorism and other charges, and sentenced
00:48to death in a ruling read on live TV.
00:52Malanga had previously told the court that his father had threatened to kill him unless
00:57he participated.
00:58He also told the court it was his first time visiting Congo at the invitation of his father,
01:04whom he had not seen in years.
01:06The Americans are among some 50 people, including U.S., British, Canadian, Belgian and Congolese
01:12citizens standing trial following the failed coup.