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Three Americans repatriated to the United States from Congo this week were charged Wednesday by the U.S. Justice Department with staging an elaborate coup attempt aimed at overthrowing the African nation’s government.
A fourth man alleged by prosecutors to be a bomb-making expert was also charged for aiding the plot.
The complaint stems from 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.
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Following a long-running FBI investigation, the Justice Department accused the men of providing training, weapons, equipment and other support to a rebel army that was formed to try to overthrow the government last year.
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, who livestreamed from the palace during the attempt, 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.
Defendants Marcel Malanga, Tyler Thompson Jr., 22, and Benjamin Zalman-Polun, 37, were returned to the U.S. Tuesday. They were expected to make their first court appearance in Brooklyn.
The alleged explosives expert, Joseph Peter Moesser, 67, was due to appear in court in Salt Lake City Thursday.
Thompson’s attorney, Skye Lazaro, said Wednesday she did not yet have information to share. No attorneys 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 places of 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 once the defendants are indicted by a grand jury.
