Three Americans accused of coup against Congo's president sentenced to death

Three Americans implicated in a botched coup attempt against the Democratic Republic of the Congo's president were sentenced to death on Friday.

The Americans and 35 others were charged with terrorism, murder, criminal association, and illegal possession of weapons, NBC News reported.

The family of American defendant Tyler Thompson said they had "zero idea" how he ended up in the DRC. Thompson told his family he was bound for South Africa when leaving the United States.

Another American defendant, Marcel Malanga, said his father threatened to kill him and Thompson if the pair did not participate in the attempted coup, which took place last May. Malanga is a native of the DRC who moved to the U.S. with his family as a refugee in the 1990s.

Malanga's father, Christian Malanga, had come back to the DRC where he joined the army. After becoming disillusioned, he went to Brussels, Belgium, in 2017 where he created a government-in-exile called the New Zaire Movement and declared himself the president of the United Congolese Party. The Belgian Congo used to be a colony of Belgium from 1908 to 1960 when it won independence and became the Republic of the Congo 

State Department spokesman Matt Miller said, "We understand that the legal process in the DRC allows for defendants to appeal the court’s decision."

U.S. government officials, however, have not declared the convictions wrongful, reducing the likelihood of negotiations for the Americans' return.

The Americans were convicted alongside a British citizen, a Belgian and a Canadian, along with Congolese co-defendants. The lawyer who defended the foreigners pledged to appeal.