Three Americans convicted for their role in a failed coup in Democratic Republic of Congo last year have had their death sentences commuted to life imprisonment, the presidency has said.

They were among 37 people sentenced to death last September by a military court.

The three were accused of leading an attack on both the presidential palace and the home of an ally of President Félix Tshisekedi last May.

The overturning of the sentences comes ahead of a visit to DR Congo by the newly appointed US senior adviser for Africa, Massad Boulos.

Boulos, father-in-law to President Donald Trump’s daughter, Tiffany, is expected to arrive in the Congolese capital, Kinshasa, on Thursday on a trip that will also take him to Rwanda, Kenya and Uganda.

The US has not declared the three Americans to be wrongfully jailed in DR Congo but the State Department said previously there had been talks between the countries over the matter.

The three were convicted of criminal conspiracy, terrorism and other charges, which they denied.