14/01/2025
COUP TRIAL >> Military Court Questions Benjamin Reuben Zalman-Polun, Over DRC Coup Attempt.
American Jew Benjamin Reuben Zalman-Polun — a Washington, DC-area native and father of three — was one of three Americans and 37 people total sentenced to de@th in the DRC over an attempted Coup in May.
The failed coup was led by Christian Malanga, a one-time used car salesman and gold miner who sought to overthrow the country’s president, Félix Tshisekedi. Six people were k!lled in the coup attempt, parts of which were live-streamed, and Malanga was later sh●t and k!lled by the Congolese army while resisting arrest.
Zalman-Polun, who pled guilty to conspiracy to distribute ma*****na in the United States a decade ago, was reportedly a gold mining business associate of Malanga’s. The other two Americans who were sentenced to de@th are Marcel Malanga, the son of Christian Malanga, and Tyler Thompson.
Zalman-Polun was at the presidential palace before coup leader Christian Malanga was shot de@d, according to photos and videos taken that day.
Zalman-Polun and the other Americans were caught on the banks of the Congo River as they were trying to escape, according to NPR. They claimed at trial that they were forced to participate in the coup at g .
Zalman-Polun reportedly had been living in South Africa with his family for the past several years. Before that, the family lived in Washington, DC, where they were members of the Washington Hebrew Congregation when their first child was born in 2017, according to announcements distributed by the Reform synagogue.
Zalman-Polun is now also the target of conspiracy theories that claim he is a CIA and Mossad agent sent to destabilize the Congolese government. Users on X have been sharing a photo of Zalman-Polun and Christian Malanga taken outside of Golan Spy Shop, a technology and security supply store in Tel Aviv, saying that it is proof that they were trained by Israeli forces.
