KINSHASA Seven soldiers have been sentenced to death after a controversial trial before a Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) military court for plotting a coup and attempting to kill late president Laurent Kabila, state radio said Friday.

The sentences, which came after a hearing involving 80 accused -- 66 soldiers and 14 civilians -- were handed down during the night at Likasi, in southeastern Katanga Province, the report said.

Forty of the accused were acquitted and the rest sentenced to prison terms ranging from five to 25 years, the report said.

The charges relate to an attempt to kill Kabila last October. None of the defendants was accused of involvement in the eventual assassination of the president in January this year by his bodyguard.

Asadho, the main human rights group in the country, claimed the accused had been tortured while in custody in Buluo high-security prison in Katanga and that proceedings before the Military Court represented a "flagrant violation of the right to a fair trial."

But the Kinshasa government rejected the criticism, saying the trial was fair and had conformed with the laws of the DRC and the principles of justice contained in international treaties signed by Kinshasa.

The sentences are not appealable and the only recourse for the condemned is to beg president Joseph Kabila for mercy.

Members of the first group were accused of being recruited by army commander Anselme Masasu to overthrow and assassinate Laurent Kabila.

Masasu, who had once been close to Kabila, was condemned to death by the Military Court and executed in November 2000 for leading the plot.

Masasu's trial was widely criticized by human rights organizations in the DRC and by lawyers' associations, which expressed concern at the "expedient methods" of the Military Court.

Among those in the second group, who were arrested in April this year, was notably former Congolese ambassador Emmanuel Dingia and several superior officers.