3 Americans charged in US after failed coup, extradition from Congo

Joseph Wilkinson, New York Daily News on Apr 9, 2025

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Three Americans extradited from the Democratic Republic of the Congo were being held Wednesday in the U.S. on charges of participating in a failed coup.

Marcel Malanga, 22; Tyler Thompson, 22; and Benjamin Zalman-Polun, 37, had been sentenced to death in Congo for participating in the coup but were shipped back to the U.S. amid diplomatic wrangling with President Donald Trump’s administration.

However, unlike with many Americans detained overseas and sent back home, the three men are expected to remain behind bars in the U.S.

Malanga, Thompson and Zalman-Polun were all part of a May 2024 coup attempt led by Malanga’s father, Christian, in the Congolese capital of Kinshasa.

Christian Malanga was a minor opposition figure in Congolese politics until he was killed in the doomed plot. Five others died and 37 people in total were sentenced to death for their roles in the attempt to overthrow the government.

Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi faces a much more serious threat to his government from Rwanda-backed armed rebel groups who control several key towns in the eastern part of the nation. He has spoken openly about an alliance with the U.S. that could include access to the African nation’s extensive mineral wealth.

“The President of Congo is holding 3 Americans now,” Trump admin hostage envoy Adam Boehler wrote on social media in February. “Perhaps it would be better if Rwanda won the war?”

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