Congo court sentences Canadian, 36 others to death over coup charges [Video]

A military court in Congo handed down death sentences on Friday to 37 people, including a Canadian, after convicting them on charges of participating in a coup attempt.

The defendants, most of them Congolese but also including a Briton, Belgian and three Americans, have five days to appeal the verdict on charges that include an attempted coup, terrorism and criminal association. Fourteen people were acquitted in the trial, which began in June.

The open-air military court in the capital, Kinshasa, convicted the 37 defendants and imposed “the harshest penalty, that of death” in the verdict delivered in French by presiding judge Maj. Freddy Ehuma.

“Global Affairs Canada is aware of reports that a Canadian citizen was sentenced to death in the Democratic Republic of the Congo,” the agency told CBC News in an email on Saturday.

“Canadian officials are providing consular assistance.”

Richard Bondo, the lawyer who defended the six foreigners, disputed whether the death penalty …