Malian singer Rokia Traore was extradited from Italy to Belgium on Friday and arrested in a custody dispute because of her outstanding two-year prison sentence, prosecutors said.
The 50-year-old singer and guitarist was convicted in absentia by a Brussels court last year of parental kidnapping in a long-running dispute with the Belgian father of her now nine-year-old daughter.
She was arrested in Italy in June and two months later a court in Rome approved her extradition.
She was arrested in Italy in June and appealed the extradition order. However, a court in Rome ruled in June that “Rokia must be transferred to Belgium within 10 days from today,” lawyer Maddalena Claudia Del Re told AFP.
Traore was transferred to Haren prison near the capital after landing in Brussels, prosecutors said in a statement.
Her lawyer, Vincent Lurquin, told AFP that she plans to appeal the prison sentence, which would trigger a new trial.
He also said that both Traore and the child's Belgian father, Jan Goossens, hoped to “find an agreement in the interests of the child” and avert a new prison sentence.
The prosecution confirmed that Traore would “remain in custody for the duration of the new trial”.
Goossens' legal team says he has not had contact with his daughter, who lives in Mali, since she was four years old.
Traore was initially arrested in Paris in 2020 on a European arrest warrant following a Belgian court ruling ordering her to return her daughter to her father.
She ignored a ban on leaving France and flew to Mali before being arrested again in Italy this year.
Beyond her musical career, Traore is also known for her advocacy work for refugees and was appointed UN Ambassador for Refugees in 2015.
AFP
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