KINSHASA, Congo — Congo’s President Felix Tshisekedi has commuted the death sentences of three Americans convicted on charges of participating in a botched coup attempt in the country’s capital Kinshasa last year, an official said Wednesday.

A presidential order commuted their death sentences to life imprisonment, Congolese presidential spokesperson Tina Salama said. The pardon came amid efforts by Congolese authorities to sign a minerals deal with the U.S. in exchange for security support.

Six people were killed during last year’s botched coup attempt led by little-known opposition figure Christian Malanga. Malanga’s 21-year-old son Marcel Malanga, a U.S. citizen, was among the Americans convicted for participating in the coup plot. The other Americans are Tyler Thompson Jr., 21, a high school friend of the younger Malanga who flew to Africa from Utah for what his family believed was a free vacation, and Benjamin Reuben Zalman-Polun, 36, who is reported to have known Christian Malanga through a gold mining company.

— The Associated Press