Three Americans convicted for their role in a failed coup in Democratic Republic of Congo last year have now been charged in the United States. They will serve the rest of their jail terms in the US.

The US Department of Justice has charged four Americans for their role in an attempted coup in the Democratic Republic of Congo after three of the men were returned to US custody this week, according to a criminal complaint unsealed on Wednesday.

Marcel Malanga, Tyler Thompson and Benjamin Zalman-Polun were convicted in the DRC over the botched May 2024 coup, in which armed men targeted the homes of top officials and briefly occupied the office of the presidency in the capital Kinshasa.

They were released on Tuesday in a deal finalised during a visit to Kinshasa by President Donald Trump's senior Africa adviser, Massad Boulos.

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A fourth man, Joseph Peter Moesser, 67, an alleged bombmaker, was arrested in the US state of Utah, the Department of Justice said in a press release.

The four face charges including conspiring to use weapons of mass destruction and bomb government facilities and conspiracy to kill or kidnap persons in a foreign country, the press release said.

(FRANCE 24 with Reuters)