Rokia Traoré: Malian singer detained in Belgium in baby custody row
Certainly one of Africa’s finest identified musicians – the Malian singer Rokia Traoré – has reportedly been imprisoned in Belgium as a part of an ongoing baby custody dispute.
The 50-year-old is being held after being extradited from Italy, over an impressive two-year jail sentence, in line with the AFP information company.
The long-running saga dates again to 2020 when Traoré was initially detained in France on a Belgian arrest warrant after failing to heed a courtroom order at hand over her daughter to the woman’s Belgian father.
Months after she was conditionally launched, Traoré flew out to Mali on a non-public flight, defying a ban from leaving France till her extradition to Belgium.
Final October, Traoré was sentenced in absentia to 2 years in jail by a courtroom in Belgium on prices of parental abduction for “failing at hand over a toddler to the particular person entitled to custody”.
In June, Traoré’s was arrested at Fiumicino airport in Rome as she flew in for a live performance, over the excellent baby custody conviction, for which there was a European arrest warrant. Two months later, a courtroom within the Italian capital accredited her extradition.
An attraction by the singer was rejected final week, paving the way in which for the extradition to happen. Traoré has been held in jail since her arrest, the Reuters information company reported.
Her daughter, who’s now aged 9 years, has lived in Mali since turning 4.
A lawyer for the kid’s father, Traoré’s former accomplice Jan Goossens, reportedly mentioned he had not had any contact together with his daughter since then.
When she was initially arrested in 2020, she had been travelling from Mali to Brussels aspiring to attraction in opposition to the custody ruling, her legal professionals had mentioned.
Mali’s authorities beforehand got here out in assist of the singer, saying that she had a diplomatic passport.
Traoré’s lawyer, Vincent Lurquin, is reported to have advised AFP that the singer plans to attraction the two-year jail sentence, which might set off a brand new trial.
He additionally mentioned each Traoré and Goossens had been hoping to “discover an settlement within the pursuits of the kid”, thus averting a brand new jail sentence.
AFP reported that the state prosecutor’s workplace in Belgium confirmed that Traoré would stay in detention all through the brand new trial.
Traoré is one among Africa’s finest identified vocalists. She has received a number of awards, together with the BBC Award for World Music in 2004 and the 2009 World Music Album of the 12 months within the Victoires de la Musique, the French equal of the Grammys.
She can be identified for her advocacy work for refugees, changing into a goodwill ambassador for the UN’s Excessive Commissioner for Refugees in 2015 in West and Central Africa.
