A military court in Congo sentenced eight people to...

A military court in Congo sentenced eight people to death for a failed plot to assassinate the central African nation's president, Joseph Kabila.
Fifteen others were sentenced to 10-year prison terms at the trial in the remote southern town of Likasi. Two people were sentenced to 15-and five-year terms, respectively, while the court acquitted 34 others. Dozens of former child soldiers were among the suspects, but it was unclear whether any were among the convicted.
A prominent human rights group, ASADHO, alleged that Congolese authorities had tortured suspects into confessing and forced at least one person to execute a fellow detainee.
ASADHO said most of the accused were former officers who served under the late dictator Mobutu Sese Seko. The rights group said security officers discovered the plot in mid-April when they arrested an armed man as he tried to enter Kabila's official residence. That led officers to an arms cache in a villa belonging to a former officer in Mobutu's army.
The plot was the first known one against Joseph Kabila, who became Congo's leader when his father, Laurent, was assassinated in January.