* Court told to sentence two Norwegians to death

* Defendants accused of murdering Congolese driver

By Thomas Hubert

KISANGANI, Congo, Aug 28 (Reuters) - A military prosecutor in Congo asked a court on Friday to sentence to death two Norwegians accused of killing their driver in the lawless east of the country in May this year.

The Norwegians, Joshua French, 27, and Tjostolv Moland, 28, were charged with murder, attempted murder, espionage, conspiracy and armed robbery after their driver was found dead with a gunshot wound to his head east of the city of Kisangani.

"May it please the garrison military court to say that the accusations against Tjostolv Moland and Joshua (French) are established and to sentence them ... to the death penalty," prosecutor Major Jean Blaise Bwa Mulundu said.

The Norwegians had previously served in Oslo's armed forces. Norwegian diplomats say contacts between the accused and their country's military or any other official organisation were discontinued in 2007.

It is not clear what the two accused were doing in the area. Ex-soldiers are frequently taken on by private security companies who have stepped up interest in the region due to oil discoveries under Lake Albert, which lies on the border between Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda.

Mulundu requested the death penalty for each of the five charges against the two defendants. The verdict is expected to be handed down by the military court next week.

The prosecution demanded this week that Norway pay Congo $500 billion in damages over the incident.

French said he was not surprised by the prosecution's statement. "I don't think any recognised nation would accept this trial in any way or accept any of the evidence," he added.

French and Moland have said that 47-year-old driver Abedi Kasongo was shot and killed when their car was attacked by gunmen on the road, 100 km (60 miles) east of the town of Kisangani.

The men were travelling in Congo's northeastern Orientale province, which is still unstable and plagued by armed groups six years after the country's war officially ended.

But the region is starting to attract investors after the discovery of billions of barrels of oil on the Ugandan side of the border by London-listed Tullow Oil <TLW.L> and Heritage Oil <HOIL.L>. (Writing by Joe Bavier; Editing by David Lewis)

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