French officers convicted over deadly initiation ritual

RENNES, France: A French court gave suspended jail terms to three soldiers convicted over the death by drowning of a trainee officer during an initiation ritual at the country’s most prestigious military academy.

Jallal Hami, 24, drowned on Oct 29, 2012, while crossing a swamp as part of an exercise meant to teach the Saint-Cyr officer school’s traditions to new recruits.

A total of seven soldiers, including a general, were tried for manslaughter.

A court in Rennes, a city in France’s western Brittany region near the Saint-Cyr academy, sentenced an army captain, a commanding officer and a soldier who has since left the military to suspended terms of between six and eight months.

Four other defendants, including the general who was in charge of training at Saint-Cyr at the time, were cleared of the charges.

Hami’s brother Rachid, who had accused the second-year students behind the hazing ritual of running amok, reacted angrily to the verdict.

“You have betrayed my brother once again,” he said.

On the night of Hami’s death, new recruits were told to swim across a swamp for 43 metres weighed down by their helmets in 9 degree Celsius.

Several quickly struggled and went under, gasping for air and clutching at others.

Organisers threw them lifebelts to help them out but it was too late for Jallal Hami.

Firefighters, alerted an hour later, found his body at 2.35am near the bank of the swamp. — AFP