“Reuzegomproces: Verdict for Elite Belgian Student Club’s Humiliation and Death of Sanda Dia”

There were seven defendants present at the trial this morning. The Public Prosecution Service had demanded higher sentences. The victim’s father, Ousmane Dia, is visibly unhappy with the verdict, the Belgian newspaper writes The last news. His family had to calm him down.

Humiliate

Sanda Dia was an engineering student at the University of Leuven. The tradition at Reuzegom, an elite Belgian student club with members from the world of lawyers, judges, politicians and doctors, is to first humiliate newcomers to the bone.

Dia had to drink liters of gin after which the taps in his room were turned off so that he could not quench his thirst. When Dia lay dead in the corner, the Giant Gommers urinated on him. A day later the boy was taken to a log cabin, where he and two other ‘shafts’, as newcomers are called within the association, had to spend hours in a self-dug pit. It was also filled with ice-cold water.

At the end of last month, the judiciary found all eighteen Reuzegommers guilty of the student’s death. The demand included prison sentences of up to 50 months (five years). In addition to the prison sentences, the Public Prosecution Service demanded that the main suspect, known by the nickname ‘Janker’, pay a fine of 8,000 euros. If it is up to the Public Prosecution Service, he may also not hold public positions or participate in elections for the next five years.

A second suspect was told the same demands, in addition to a prison sentence of more than four years. A prison sentence of between 1.5 and 2 years has been demanded against the other sixteen suspects.

The boys were forced to eat goldfish and mice and drink large amounts of fish sauce. Dia first ended up in a coma: he had a much too high salt content in his blood. According to experts, the amount of salt in Sanda’s body can be compared to someone who drinks 4 liters of seawater.

In addition, he had a body temperature of 27.2 degrees. Then he had a heart attack. Two days later he died in hospital.

The association members who were there that evening quickly deleted photos and videos from their phones after calling the emergency services.

Finally completed?

During the hearings they expressed regret and stated that they wanted to take responsibility. The perpetrators must all together pay damages of 4000 to 15000 euros to Dia’s family.

Earlier, the family indicated that they think insight into guilt is more important than that the Reuzegommers end up in prison. “According to them, nobody really benefits from that,” journalist Pieter Huyberechts previously told RTL Nieuws, who wrote a book about the case.

It is not yet clear whether the perpetrators will appeal in cassation. If they don’t, the case is finally closed.