https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-...-join-22797690
An investigation is underway into a fraternity after a black student died when he was forced to drink alcohol and glug fish oil until he threw up as part of an initiation ceremony.
The death of Sanda Dia was initially deemed a tragic accident with the belief that the ritual so he could become a member of the elite club based at KU Leuven in Belgium went horrifically wrong.
The 20-year-old engineering student also swallow a live goldfish and stand outside in an ice-filled trench - he died two months later from hypothermia and multiple organ failure in December 2018.
Almost two years after his death disturbing material has come to light that shows he was subjected to deplorable abuse during his initiation and had racist slurs hurled at him by members as he was forced to clear up the mess afterwards.
There are also claims he was told "black people should work for white people".
A photo shows a member of the club wearing Ku Klux Klan robes and a video shows members singing a racist song.
The shocking footage also includes a speech by members and references ?our good German friend, Hitler.?
Deleted WhatsApp messages, recovered by the police, shows members scrambling to cover their tracks after Sanda died.
Sanda was the son of an immigrant factory worker who had won a place at the university- one of the most prestigious in Belgium, New York Times reports.
However the unofficial fraternity there, Reuzegom, was home to one of Antwerp?s white elites and the boy's club has a reputation for putting potential new members through a vicious ritual.
Some members are the sons of judges, business leaders and politicians.
Seydou De Vel, Sanda's brother, said: ?This was not an accident."
Sanda?s grieving dad Ousmane Dia, who is from Senegal, said: ?They thought, ?He?s just some Black guy.
"We are powerful and nothing can happen to us.??
The unofficial elite club is now disbanded but 18 members are being investigated by police.
Prosecutors are recommending they are charged with involuntary manslaughter, degrading treatment and neglect.
Those who have not already graduated remain are being allowed to take classes online while the investigation continues.
Police have not found any evidence that Sanda was intentionally killed but he was the only black man taking part in the initiation and was the only one who died.
Mr Dia arrived in Belgium in 1994 as an asylum seeker.
The 51-year-old settled in Antwerp, where he found work, he learned Dutch and he and his wife raised a family.
He said his son thrived at school and was in his third year at K.U. Leuven when he decided to join Reuzegom.
He said Reuzegom had only one other black member, who was given the nickname Rafiki, the name of the monkey in the movie ?The Lion King."
Kenny Van Minsel, a former president of the campus student association., described the fraternity's members as being ?predominantly white and upper-class.?
Research has shown that Belgians of African descent are far more likely to be jobless or work in low-skilled jobs even if they are highly educated which Kenny claims make fraternities seem like an avenue toward a better career for them.
None of the members being investigated have been named publicly.
Nearly all information about the membership of the club was removed from the internet after Sanda died.
https://medium.com/@hackdown/why-is-...s-8e66113765f4
Young 20-year-old student in Leuven, Sanda Dia died in December 2018 after baptismal festivities. Today, the case is resurfacing, and discussions about those responsible for the young man?s death are more heated than ever.
Sanda Dia was therefore an engineering student at KU Leuven. On December 4 and 5, 2018, as De Morgen explains in his reconstruction of the facts, the young boy of African origin, accompanied by two other students, takes part in the last tests which will make him a baptized member of the Reuzegom circle. After being forced to ingest a huge amount of alcohol on the first night, including a liter of gin and beer, the "blues" return to their kot, where the taps have been turned off to prevent them from hydrating. The next day, December 5, the three students find themselves facing their "executioners" again. In a chalet outside the city of Louvain, the baptized again forced the three young students to ingest a mixture in which live fish were swimming, and composed largely of fish oil. After that, the three boys were kept standing in a hole filled with ice water, which the members of the Reuzegom circle used as a toilet on several occasions, while the three "blues" were in it. It is during this ordeal that, frozen and already in bad shape, Sanda Dia falls unconscious. It will be several hours before he is taken to UZA hospital in Edegem, with his two comrades in misfortune. And that?s where, in hypothermia, Sanda dies. The salt contained in the disproportionate amount of fish oil ingested by the young boy also caused several of his organs to fail.
Penalties too light
If the story of Sanda Dia resurfaces today, almost two years later, it is for several things. The responsibility of the 18 members of the Reuzegom student circle will be discussed during a trial. They are all summoned to appear in connection with the investigation for manslaughter, degrading treatment and administration of harmful substances, which was opened following the death of Sanda Dia. And it is on September 4 that the council chamber will decide whether or not they will be referred to the criminal court. For its part, the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) said on Monday that it had initiated internal and disciplinary proceedings in the context of the possible involvement of one of its students in the judicial file concerning the death. by Sanda. "It is important for the VUB to know whether criminal charges are brought against the VUB student who is allegedly involved in the legal case," the university said in a press release. At the material time, members of Reuzegom were fined 30 hours of community service and had to write an essay on the rituals of baptism. A sanction now considered too light by many professors at KU Leuven. ?The authors of the Reuzegom were able to continue their studies, some even graduated. Other members who were aware of the circumstances of Sanda Dia?s death experienced few obstacles or worked as assistants in our university. This is beyond comprehension, ?they wrote recently in an open letter to their rector.
A racist fact?
Apart from that, the president of the organization which brings together the student circles of Louvain (the Loko) at the time of the death, Kenny Van Minsel, said this weekend that Sanda Dia had been the victim of racism on the part of the Reuzegom . On Twitter he wrote: ?Two months before Sanda?s death, a racist incident was reported in our ballroom. The club in question was Reuzegom. The target was Sanda Dia. Two months later, Sanda died. during his baptism with Reuzegom ". An assertion that also relaunches the case, two days before the start of the trial, where the 18 members of the Reuzegom circle will appear, as well as the two other students who were alongside Sanda Dia during the trials of this mortal baptism.
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