Three Americans are accused of trying to overthrow Congo’s president. They’re now sentenced to death. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/three-americans-are-accused-trying-overthrow-congos-president-now-sent-rcna171126
nbcnews on September 16, 2024 11:36 am When 21-year-old Tyler Thompson boarded a plane in Utah this April, his stepmother, Miranda Thompson, thought he was [bound for South Africa](https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/south-africa-farmers-murder-women-fed-pigs-rcna170570), traveling with his high school buddy, Marcel Malanga, on a once-in-a-lifetime trip to explore the world. Instead, he was entangled in the deluded efforts of a self-styled warlord to overthrow the president of [the Democratic Republic of ](https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/mpox-vaccination-begin-congo-month-rcna170195)[the ](https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/mpox-vaccination-begin-congo-month-rcna170195)[Congo](https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/mpox-vaccination-begin-congo-month-rcna170195), one of Africa’s largest nations, in a series of events that unfolded over five months and ended with his death sentence, delivered by [a Congolese military court](https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/congo-jailbreak-prison-stampede-gunshots-dead-kinshasa-rcna169297) on Friday. Thompson, Malanga and 35 others, who were convicted of taking part in [the botched coup](https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/ukraine-coup-attempt-zelenskyy-hungary-viktor-orban-russia-war-rcna159909), were charged with terrorism, murder, criminal association and illegal possession of weapons, among other charges.
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When 21-year-old Tyler Thompson boarded a plane in Utah this April, his stepmother, Miranda Thompson, thought he was [bound for South Africa](https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/south-africa-farmers-murder-women-fed-pigs-rcna170570), traveling with his high school buddy, Marcel Malanga, on a once-in-a-lifetime trip to explore the world.
Instead, he was entangled in the deluded efforts of a self-styled warlord to overthrow the president of [the Democratic Republic of ](https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/mpox-vaccination-begin-congo-month-rcna170195)[the ](https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/mpox-vaccination-begin-congo-month-rcna170195)[Congo](https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/mpox-vaccination-begin-congo-month-rcna170195), one of Africa’s largest nations, in a series of events that unfolded over five months and ended with his death sentence, delivered by [a Congolese military court](https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/congo-jailbreak-prison-stampede-gunshots-dead-kinshasa-rcna169297) on Friday.
Thompson, Malanga and 35 others, who were convicted of taking part in [the botched coup](https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/ukraine-coup-attempt-zelenskyy-hungary-viktor-orban-russia-war-rcna159909), were charged with terrorism, murder, criminal association and illegal possession of weapons, among other charges.