Malian singer Rokia Traoré remains imprisoned in Haren prison in Brussels for the time being, the Brussels Correctional Court has ruled. The 50-year-old woman has been embroiled in a custody battle for years with her former partner, Belgian playwright Jan Goossens, the father of her daughter. The trial was postponed to January 8th.
Traoré was sentenced in absentia to two years in prison in October 2023 for failing to respect a family court ruling on custody of the child she has with Belgian father Jan Goossens. The couple had a daughter in 2015 but separated about four years later. Since then, Goossens has not seen his now nine-year-old daughter, despite two rulings from the Brussels Family Court.
In the first judgment of June 2019, this court granted the father visitation rights and in the second judgment of September 2019 even custody, but Traoré did not comply with any judgment. She even accused Goossens of sexual misconduct, a complaint that was dismissed as unfounded by judicial authorities in several countries, including Belgium.
In March 2020, the woman was arrested in France on the basis of an international arrest warrant from Belgium. She was released conditionally by the French court and had to surrender her passport, but was still able to flee the country on a private jet.
“Danger of escape”
In June 2024, Traoré was arrested at Fiumicino Airport in Rome, where she had landed to give a concert in Italy. The singer resisted extradition to Belgium but was finally extradited at the end of November. Her defense requested her conditional release, but this was rejected.
“There is a risk of absconding and repeating,” the public prosecutor’s office said on Monday. “Mrs Traoré has never shown any goodwill in this case.” Sven Mary, Goossens’ lawyer, argued in the same vein: “If she is released now, we will not see her or the child again.” It is sad that She's in prison now, but she's responsible for it. She didn’t want to come to Belgium and she didn’t want to let the father see his child.”
Dimitri de Béco, Traoré's lawyer, argued that it was not in the child's best interest to keep the mother in prison. “Leaving the mother in prison to take the child to Belgium is the worst solution,” he said.
Malian singer Rokia Traoré © BELGA PHOTO BERTRAND LANGLOIS / AFP
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