Recently, the lifeless body of Danys Dinabongho Ibouanga, a 17-year-old Karabuk University student from Gabon, was found in a stream. While the Governor’s Office of the city announced that the cause of Dina’s death was drowning, the Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office announced the preliminary report of the autopsy and stated that there were no traces of sexual assault or sharp object injuries in the first examinations. Dina’s friends said the death was suspicious and her family told the authorities that they would not take the body until the “mystery death” was solved.

There is a confidentiality order on Dina’s case file and a journalist was detained for reporting the case.

After Dina’s death, black students staged a protest in front of the university rectorate building. Carrying Dinabongho’s photo and banners with the slogan “Justice for Dina“, the group marched to the main entrance of the university, chanting slogans in French. Police blocked the students at the university gate to prevent the march, which started inside the university, from continuing outside.

Karabuk University student Yara Abounaida from Sudan said, “We came here to support and seek justice. May she rest in peace. She had been here for 4 months. It doesn’t make sense that she went for a walk in the woods by herself. We want the truth. We want the authorities and the university to explain to us what happened to her. We are just students; our safety is more important than anything else.”