US charges Americans over role in botched Congo coup

PHOTO CAPTION: Benjamin Zalman Polun, Marcel Malanga and Tyler Thompson, American citizens suspected along with a group of around fifty other people to be involved in an attempted coup in Congo, wait for the final verdict during their trial in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo, September 13, 2024. REUTERS/Justin Makangara

By Simon Lewis

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -     The U.S. Department of Justice has charged four Americans for their role in an attempted coup in the Democratic Republic of Congo after three of the men were returned to U.S. custody this week, according to a criminal complaint unsealed on Wednesday.

Marcel Malanga, Tyler Thompson and Benjamin Zalman-Polun were convicted in the DRC over the botched May 2024 coup, in which armed men targeted the homes of top officials and briefly occupied the office of the presidency in the capital Kinshasa.

They were released on Tuesday in a deal finalized during a visit to Kinshasa by President Donald Trump's senior Africa adviser, Massad Boulos.

A fourth man, Joseph Peter Moesser, 67, an alleged bombmaker, was arrested in the U.S. state of Utah, the Department of Justice said in a press release.

The four face charges including conspiring to use weapons of mass destruction and bomb government facilities and conspiracy to kill or kidnap persons in a foreign country, the press release said.

"The defendants planned, scouted out targets, and identified victims for the Armed Coup Attack, with the purpose and intent to murder other persons, including high-level DRC government officials," it said. "They recruited others to join in the Armed Coup Attack as personnel for the rebel army and, in some cases, recruited personnel in exchange for money."

Malanga, Thompson and Zalman-Polun were among 37 people found guilty of criminal conspiracy, terrorism and other charges by a Congolese military court in September and sentenced to death over the coup attempt.

The deal for the three men's release comes as Washington is negotiating with Congo's president, Felix Tshisekedi, over potential minerals investments.

The three men denied any wrongdoing and unsuccessfully appealed against the verdict, before Tshisekedi last week commuted their sentences to life in prison before handing them over to U.S. authorities.

 (Reporting by Simon Lewis in Washington; Editing by Matthew Lewis)