The trial of 18 suspects in the death of a 20-year-old student during a university society
initiation ritual, an incident that shocked Belgium, resumed in the city of Hasselt on Friday.
The suspects were charged with involuntary manslaughter, failure to render assistance and administration of harmful and lethal substances.
The court questioned the 18 society members and their lawyers, Belga, the Belgian news agency reported.
The trial started in September 2021 and heard witness and experts’ testimony in October.
Sanda Dia died in December 2018 after an ordeal that saw him drinking huge amounts of fish oil and alcohol and biting the head
off a live eel in a bid to join an elite all-male club “Reuzegom’’ along with other hopefuls.
According to the Belgian broadcaster Vrt News, Dia was forced to remain half-naked in a pit filled with water at outside temperature
of six degrees, together with two other candidates.
On the evening of the second day of the ritual, the man was taken to the hospital unconscious and suffering from hypothermia, where
he died.
Following an outcry about the brutality of the ritual, the case provoked debate about racism in Belgium, as the victim was black and
the membership of the elite university society was white.
According to the Belgian media, the suspects face prison sentences of up to 15 years.
The Reuzegom society in the university town of Leuven, east of Brussels, has since been disbanded. (dpa/NAN)
