US charges Americans convicted in failed Congo coup attempt
SALT LAKE CITY—Three Americans repatriated to the United States from Congo this week have been charged with participating in an elaborate coup attempt aimed at overthrowing the African nation’s government last year, the US Justice Department said Wednesday.
A fourth man alleged by prosecutors to be an expert in explosives was also charged with aiding the plot.
The criminal charges arise from the same set of allegations that led to three of the defendants being detained in Congo and receiving death sentences.
The sentences were later commuted to punishments of life imprisonment before the men were ultimately transferred Tuesday into US custody to face charges in an American court.
Their repatriation came amid efforts by Congolese authorities to reach a minerals deal with the United States in exchange for security support to fight rebels in the country’s conflict-hit east.
Conspiracy
A criminal complaint unsealed by prosecutors Wednesday follows a long-running FBI investigation and accuses the men of conspiring to provide weapons, explosives and other support to a rebel army that was formed to try to overthrow the government.
Among the three Americans is 22-year-old Marcel Malanga, son of opposition figure Christian Malanga, who led the coup attempt that targeted the presidential palace in Kinshasa.
The elder Malanga livestreamed from the palace during the attempt and was later killed while resisting arrest, Congolese authorities said.
Prosecutors say the goal of the plot was to establish a new government known as New Zaire and install Christian Malanga as its president. The younger Malanga identified himself as the “Chief of Staff of the Zaire army” and acted as a leader of the rebel forces, court documents say.
Christian Malanga, who was born in the Congolese capital of Kinshasa, had described himself on his website as a refugee who settled in the United States with his family in the 1990s.
The self-proclaimed leader of a shadow government in exile sold used cars and dabbled in gold mining before persuading his Utah-born son to join in the foiled coup.
Christian Malanga was convicted in Utah of assault with a firearm in 2001 and had charges dismissed in several other criminal cases.
Court appearance
Marcel Malanga, Tyler Thompson Jr., 22, and Benjamin Zalman-Polun, 37, were returned to the United States Tuesday. They are expected to make their first court appearance in Brooklyn.
The alleged explosives expert, Joseph Peter Moesser, 67, is set to appear in court in Salt Lake City on Thursday.
Prosecutors say that as part of the plot, he provided explosives training and instructions at his Utah home and contributed weapons.
Thompson’s lawyer, Skye Lazaro, said Wednesday she did not yet have information to share. No lawyers were listed in court documents for the other three defendants.
The men are charged with crimes including conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction, conspiracy to bomb government facilities and conspiracy to kill or kidnap persons in a foreign country.
Those charges, which taken together could result in lengthy prison sentences in the event of a conviction, could change if and when the defendants are indicted by a grand jury.
