Brussels, April 22 (dpa/GNA) – The trial of 18 defendants 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 defendants are 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 began in September 2021 and heard witness and expert testimony in October.
Sanda Dia died in December 2018 after an ordeal that saw him, according to Belgian media reports, drink huge amounts of fish oil and alcohol and bite the head of 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 temperatures of 6 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. He died there as a result of the abuse.
As well as 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 Belgian media, the defendants face prison sentences of up to 15 years. The Reuzegom society, in the university town of Leuven, east of Brussels, has since been disbanded.
GNA