In three Americans death sentence abolished

Three Americans, convicted of role in the unsuccessful coup in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, were death sentences that were transferred to life imprisonment, the presidency reports.

They were among 37 people Convicted to death last September by a military court.

Three were accused of attacking the Presidential Palace, as well as the House of President Felix Tshasecki in May last year.

The cancellation of the sentences a newly appointed senior US -Masad Bulos Advisor on the eve of visiting Dr. Congo.

It is expected that Boulos, the father -in -law of President Donald Trump, Tiffany, will arrive in Kinshas on Thursday, which will also take him to Rwanda, Kenya and Uganda.

The United States did not announce that the Congo Dr. The three Americans had been imprisoned illegally, but the State Department said there were negotiations between the countries on this issue.

The three were convicted of criminal conspiracy, terrorism and other allegations they denied.

The suspected leader of the plot Christian Malanga, a citizen of Congolese descent, was killed during the attack with five others.

A total of 51 people were tried in a military court, and the hearings were broadcast on national television and radio.

Fourteen people were justified and released, and the court considered that they had no connection with the attack.

The death sentences have not been carried out by the Congo’s doctor for about two decades and convicts who have been punished, usually serve as a lifetime.

In March this year, the government raised this moratorium, referring to the need to remove “traitors” from the country’s dysfunctional army. However, there have not been punishments for death since then.

On Tuesday, the Tshasecki President signed orders to go to the death sentences, said Tina Salam’s press, a television statement.

According to Salama, “Three – Marseille Malung Malung”, Tylor Thomson and Zalman Polun Benjamin – “Individual Pardon”, Salam reports.

Ckiness Ciamba, one of Malang’s attorneys, told Reuters that “the president made it the first step that promises serious changes in the future.”

Jean-Jacques Wonda, Double Congolese and Belgian citizen, who was also sentenced to death, was transferred to Belgium in February because of poor well-being. It is unclear whether Americans can also send home to serve their sentences.

It is also unclear whether there will be other convicts, which include the British, Belgian and Canadian citizen, will also have their sentences.

The coup attempt began in the capital, Kinshasa, in the first hours of May 19, when the armed men first attacked the speaker of the parliament with a vital chamber house before going to the official residence of the president in the capital.

Witnesses say a group of about 20 attackers in the army form attacked the palace, and it was exchanged by fire.

Additional Emera McUMEN report in Kinshas