British plumber among 37 people sentenced to death over Congo coup plot
A British plumber and three Americans are among 37 people sentenced to death on charges of taking part in a murky coup plot to overthrow the Congolese president.
Youssouf Ezangi is to be executed alongside five other foreigners following a military tribunal in the country’s capital, Kinshasa.
Six people were killed during the short-lived uprising in May, led by a little-known opposition figure called Christian Malanga.
It targeted the presidential palace and a close ally of Felix Tshisekedi, the president of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
Malanga was shot dead while resisting arrest, soon after live-streaming the attack on his social media, the Congolese army said.
Military authorities accused Mr Ezangi of being a ringleader in the plot.
However, his lawyers told The Telegraph that he had been tortured into confessing and then subjected to a rushed and flawed show trial.
As a civilian, he should not have been tried by a military tribunal, they said, while several defendants also insisted that they had been coerced into joining Malanga’s attack.
Saul Lehrfreund, the co-executive director of the UK-based Death Penalty Project, said that the trial had been “highly unsatisfactory”.
He said: “Imposing 37 death sentences in these circumstances is unthinkable. We will be raising concerns with international bodies, seeking an urgent investigation.”
Little is known about Mr Ezangi. Authorities in the DRC have described him as a naturalised British subject, and he lived in the UK, working as a plumber, until 2019, when he left to join a political party with Mr Malanga.
The Foreign Office confirmed that he is a British national.
A spokesman said: “We are providing consular assistance to a British man detained in DRC and are in contact with the local authorities.”
Others sentenced to death included Malanga’s 21-year-old son, Marcel, and his high-school friend Tyler Thompson. The pair played American football together at school in Utah.
The third American, Benjamin Zalman-Polun, was a business associate of Christian Malanga.
All three were found guilty of criminal conspiracy, terrorism and other charges, and sentenced to death in a ruling read out on live TV.
Marcel Malanga had previously told the court that his father had threatened to kill him unless he participated.
He also told the court that it was his first time visiting the DRC, at the invitation of his father, whom he had not seen in years.