Malian singer Rokia Traoré was extradited from Italy to Belgium and transferred to Haren prison in Brussels, AFP news agency reported. 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 Malian singer was arrested in Paris in March 2020 and served with a European arrest warrant because a Belgian judge ordered her to return her now nine-year-old daughter to the child's Belgian father, Jan Goossens. The singer and guitarist was sentenced in absentia last year to two years in prison for child abuse. Although she was banned from leaving France, she still flew back to Mali.
Traoré was arrested in June at Rome's Fiumicino airport, where she had landed to give a concert. Lawyer Sven Mary, who represents the child's father, stated at the time that his client had not had any contact with his daughter, who lived in Mali, for more than five years. The Belgian judicial authorities demanded their extradition.
According to her Belgian lawyer Vincent Lurquin, Traoré had to inform the judiciary immediately after arriving in Belgium that she was opposing her sentencing in absentia in 2023 so that she could be retried in their presence. According to this hypothesis, “she will remain in custody for the duration of her second trial,” said a spokesman for the Brussels prosecutor’s office.
New hearings could take place as early as December. Lawyer Lurquin told AFP that they wanted to reach a new agreement with the other party “in the interests of the child” in order to prevent Traoré from being convicted again.
Traoré is one of Mali's most famous musicians. She has performed around the world, served on the jury at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival and served as a special ambassador for the UN refugee agency UNHCR.
The Malian singer Rokia Traoré in 2013 © BELGA PHOTO ANNE-CHRISTINE POUJOULAT / AFP
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