Eighteen members of a circle of Belgian students were sent back to the Hasselt correctional court, in Flanders, for the death of a black schoolmate during a hazing in 2018, we learned Thursday from a judicial source .

These 18 people are believed to be involved in the ritual that claimed the life of 20-year-old Sanda Dia.

The students are being prosecuted for manslaughter, intentional administration of harmful substances resulting in death, degrading treatment and culpable negligence, said a spokeswoman for the Limburg public prosecutor's office.

They have fifteen days to appeal this decision of referral to correctional, taken by the council chamber of Hasselt.

The referral to correctional is "a relief" for the family

Sanda Dia, who was studying engineering at the Catholic University of Louvain (KU Leuven), had suffered with two other students a series of humiliating tests on the occasion of a "baptism" to enter the fraternity " Reuzegom ”on December 4 and 5, 2018. The Belgian student had to swallow a large amount of alcohol and swallow a salty preparation made from fish oil, then stay outside in the cold in a hole filled with ice water.

Suffering from hypothermia, he died on December 7, 2018 in Antwerp hospital, following a "cerebral edema", according to a source close to the file.

The case aroused great emotion in Flanders and accusations of racism against the student fraternity.

An anti-racist collective, Belgian Youth Against Racism (BYAR), mobilized in particular to “demand justice” for the young man.

The referral to correctional is "for the family a relief", reacted the lawyer of the father of Sanda Dia, Sven Mary.

"It has been a year since defense lawyers (...) have been trying by all means to buy time," he denounced, anticipating an appeal from them against Thursday's decision.

However, he said he expected "an introductory hearing before the criminal court at the beginning of November".

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