Former students at one of Europe’s top universities will face trial over the death a black student during a harrowing initiation ceremony.
Prosecutors have charged 18 men who were students at Belgium’s leading medieval Leuven University on counts including manslaughter after Sanda Dia, who wanted to join their fraternity, died in December 2018.
Race did not explicitly play a part in the initiation but members of the Reuzegom fraternity, now disbanded, have been accused of racism. “The day of judgment is approaching,” said Sven Mary, the lawyer acting for the Dia family.
Dia, 20, an engineering student from a working-class immigrant background, died after an initiation ordeal to become a “Reuzegommer”. He wanted to join the fraternity as a way of getting ahead, as many members were scions of the Flemish establishment.
During his two-day initiation along with two other white students, Dia was forced to drink copious amounts of alcohol, denied water and made to eat high-salt food, before standing in a pit of icy water that he dug himself. He collapsed after some members repeatedly raised concerns about him. When he was taken to hospital, where he died of multiple organ failure, his body temperature was 10C below normal at 27C.
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Charges include accidental killing, the wilful administration of harmful substances resulting in death, degrading treatment and culpable negligence.