An anti-racist collective organized on the evening of Friday September 4 in Leuven, Belgium, a silent demonstration in memory of a Belgian student born to an African father who died in 2018 following a hazing, a case that arouses great emotion in Flanders .
This "
sit-in
", in a town square where Sanda Dia, 20, was studying engineering, brought together between 100 and 200 people, according to images from the Belga press agency.
Read also: In Thailand, a high school student dies after an alleged hazing
It aimed to “
demand justice for Sanda
” and “
support her parents and friends,
” explained Anis Agris, one of the leaders of the organizing collective, Belgian Youth Against Racism (BYAR).
This drama of December 2018 returned to the forefront of the news this summer after the decision of the public prosecutor's office overseeing the judicial investigation to demand a trial for some twenty students suspected of having played a role in the death of the young man .
The demonstration was scheduled for the day the Hasselt (north) council chamber was due to rule on this request for referral to a criminal court, a decision that was ultimately deferred.
"
Sanda suffered racism and humiliation from (the student fraternity) Reuzegom (...) Sanda is dead, they took everything from him, they let him die
", denounces the BYAR collective on its page Facebook.
A body temperature of 27 °
On December 4 and 5, 2018, Sanda Dia had to undergo with two other students a series of humiliating ordeals during this "
baptism
" to integrate the Reuzegom fraternity, well established in the very famous Catholic University of Louvain (KU Leuven).
The first day, the Antwerp student born to a Mauritanian father had to swallow a large amount of alcohol without being able to hydrate himself to lower the blood alcohol level.
Scotch tape had been stuck on all the taps in his apartment.
On the second day, in an isolated chalet in the Antwerp region, he had to swallow a salty preparation made from fish oil, then stay outside in the cold in a hole filled with ice water.
The 20-year-old student died on December 7, 2018 in Antwerp hospital, from "
cerebral edema
", a source familiar with the matter told AFP.
According to Flemish media, his body temperature had dropped to 27 degrees after the ritual of the
ice-water
"
well
", and several hours passed before he was taken to hospital.
This drama constitutes "
one of the darkest pages in the history of our university
", deplored the rector of KU Leuven, Luc Sels at the beginning of August.
Friday evening the university announced that its students involved in the case would be banned from entering campus during the first semester.
“
They will only be able to participate in distance learning that does not involve any contact with other students,
” KU Leuven said in a statement.
In the middle of the summer, the Limburg public prosecutor's office signed an indictment in which it calls for the referral to trial of 18 members of Reuzegom, suspected according to the cases of "
degrading treatment
", "
administration of a harmful substance resulting in death
", "
Culpable negligence
" or even "
manslaughter
".
Several Dutch-speaking universities with members of the Reuzegom circle have expressed their intention to bring civil proceedings in the proceedings.
