British Citizen Returned to the UK After 18 Months Living Under a Sentence of Death in the DRC

PRESS RELEASE: For 18 months, British citizen Youssouf Ezangi was detained under a sentence of death in the Democratic Republic of Congo. He had faced serious human rights violations. In March 2026, Mr Ezangi was returned from the DRC to a prison in the United Kingdom. As the death penalty has been abolished in the UK, this transfer ensures Mr Ezangi is now protected from execution and no longer living under the psychological torment of a death sentence.

In 2024, Mr Ezangi was tried alongside 50 individuals by a military court at N’dolo prison in Kinshasa, DRC. The 51 defendants were accused of attacking the Palais de la Nation, the official residence and workplace of the President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, on 19 May 2024. Led by Christian Malanga, a Congolese national who had become an American citizen, the events resulted in the death of two police officers, four assailants and one civilian. Mr Malanga died during the attack.

37 of the defendants were ultimately sentenced to death. Alongside Youssouf Ezangi, who is a British citizen, the group included citizens of the United States of America, Canada and Belgium.

The trial

The legal proceedings violated recognised minimum fair trial guarantees. Mr Ezangi, alongside the other defendants, was tried before a military court, by members of the armed forces. DRC’s Constitution and international law clearly prohibit civilians being tried for capital crimes before military tribunals. The defendants also complained of brutal treatment on arrest by the DRC armed forces.

Legal teams of various defendants alleged that they felt unable to freely represent their clients due to the highly politicised nature of the case. Additionally, despite assurances from the Congolese authorities that legal aid would be provided, Mr Ezangi’s legal representatives never received any payment for their services. This severely limited their efforts to engage with him prior to trial, obtain proper instructions and adequately prepare his defence. It also severely hampered the legal assistance he was able to subsequently receive for his appeal.

In the evidence that was heard, several defendants argued that they were coerced and intimidated by Mr Malanga into participating in the attack. The court was told that they feared reprisals and were unwilling participants in the events of 19 May, including that Mr Malanga had earlier shot and killed individuals involved in the operation who had dissented. As the defendants faced an automatic, mandatory sentence of death upon conviction, mitigating evidence such as this was not considered. The trial judges had no discretion as to whether to designate the offence as a crime warranting the death penalty.

Post conviction

Following his conviction in September 2024, Mr Ezangi, alongside his co-defendants, was held in cell with approximately 250 other people, living under a real and immediate risk of execution.

Six months before, amid escalating violence and unrest in the country, the government in Kinshasa lifted its 20‑year moratorium on the death penalty, reflecting an intention to resume executions.

The Death Penalty Project has worked with the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) for more than 20 years providing legal assistance to British nationals facing the death penalty overseas. We were approached by the FCDO shortly after Mr Ezangi’s arrest in May 2024.

Throughout his initial trial and subsequent appeal, we have been providing ongoing legal assistance and advice to his legal team in the DRC and the UK FCDO. Our priority has been to raise fair trial concerns, challenge practices which violate domestic and international law and ultimately advanced legal and political remedies to prevent his execution.

In 2025, one Belgian citizen and three U.S. citizens were transferred back to their countries of citizenship under prisoner transfer agreements.

On 31^st March 2026, following the conclusion of a diplomatic agreement between the Congolese and British Governments, a treaty secured the transfer of Mr Ezangi from N’dolo prison in Kinshasa, DRC, to HMP Belmarsh in London. Given that the United Kingdom has abolished capital punishment, Mr Ezangi’s death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment on transfer and a further legal process through the High Court will follow.

Saul Lehrfreund, Co-Executive Director, The Death Penalty Project, said:

We are delighted and relieved that Mr Ezangi, now returned to the United Kingdom, is no longer facing execution and is free from the psychological torment of death row. We have repeatedly raised concerns that, as a civilian, Mr Ezangi’s case should have never been heard by a military tribunal. Throughout the legal proceedings he was denied all fair trial guarantees. This rendered his death sentence arbitrary, in violation of the Constitution of the Democratic Republic of the Congo as well as the country’s obligations under international law. From arrest to conviction, the process took only four months. With the panel of judges hearing less than 30 days of evidence for more than 50 defendants, it is inconceivable that a fair trial for such a volume of defendants would have been possible.

Given Mr Ezangi was given a mandatory sentence of death upon conviction, we have also been gravely concerned about the lack of opportunity for a judge to consider the personal circumstances or any mitigating evidence of Mr Ezangi and the other defendants before imposing death sentences. The mandatory death penalty is recognised as an arbitrary deprivation of life and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment. It has been explicitly and repeatedly condemned by international human rights bodies and national courts the world over.

We are thankful that Mr Ezangi’s prolonged ordeal in the DRC has now ended and will continue to offer him any support we can.