A military court hearing got under way in the Democratic Republic of Congo on Friday expected to deliver a verdict over what the army says was a coup attempt, with 50 defendants, including three Americans, facing the death penalty.The 51 people on trial were seated on rows of plastic chairs under a large tent for the hearing in the grounds of a military prison in the capital Kinshasa.Dressed in blue and yellow prison uniforms, many stared blankly ahead as they awaited the verdict in the trial, which began in June.The alleged coup attempt unfurled in the early hours of May 19 when several dozen armed men attacked the home of then economy minister Vital Kamerhe, who is now national assembly president. Two policemen guarding him were killed.The group then went to a building housing President Felix Tshisekedi’s offices brandishing flags of Zaire, the country’s name under ex-dictator Mobutu Sese Seko, who was overthrown in 1997.Shots were heard near the building, several sources said at the time.An army spokesman later announced on national TV that defence and security forces had stopped “an attempted coup d’etat”.The defendants — all of whom have pleaded not guilty — also include four women and a Briton, Canadian and Belgian who are all naturalised Congolese.The Belgian, military expert Jean-Jacques Wondo, told AFP on Friday he hoped to be acquitted and that he was suffering a “difficult ordeal”.- ‘Forced to carry an arm’ -The alleged plot was led by Christian Malanga, a Congolese man who was a “naturalised American” and who was killed by security forces, army spokesman General Sylvain Ekenge has said.The three Americans on trial include Malanga’s son Marcel Malanga.The two other Americans being tried are 22-year-old Tyler Thompson and Benjamin Zalman-Polun, 36.The trial began on June 7 in Ndolo military prison, where all the defendants are being held.The charges include “attack, terrorism, illegal possession of weapons and munitions of war, attempted assassination, criminal association, murder (and) financing of terrorism”.The proceedings have shed little light on the motivations behind the May 19 events, for which the defendants placed the blame on Christian Malanga.Thompson told the court he had been “forced” into participating, as did the two other US citizens Zalman-Polun and Marcel Malanga. “I was forced to carry an arm,” Thompson said.”I came to the DRC (Democratic Republic of Congo) to visit Marcel’s family who I had never seen before,” he added. Malanga said his father had “told us he would kill us if we didn’t listen”, and Zalman-Polun said he was “kidnapped” and “forced” into taking part.Last month, military prosecutor Lieutenant Colonel Innocent Radjabu urged judges to sentence to death all but one of the defendants, who according to a medical report suffers from “psychological disorders”.In March, the Congolese government defied criticism from human rights organisations and lifted a moratorium on the death penalty in place since 2003.
