The singer and guitarist, who was sentenced in absentia in October to two years in prison in this case, was arrested in June at Fiumicino airport in Rome, where she had just landed to give a concert in the country.
The Brussels public prosecutor’s office then indicated that “the arrest of Ms. Traoré in Italy (was) following a decision of the Brussels criminal court of October 18, 2023 having sentenced the person concerned, by default, to a sentence of two years in prison. imprisonment on the charge of non-representation of a child” to the person having custody of the child.
Rokia Traoré had already been arrested in March 2020 in Paris under a European arrest warrant, because a Belgian court had ordered her to return her minor daughter to the child’s Belgian father, Jan Goossens. Despite a ban on leaving France, she flew with her daughter to Mali.
After the announcement of the Italian court’s decision, Jan Goossens’ Belgian lawyer, Sven Mary, told AFP that his client hoped to “obtain constructive solutions for the well-being and in the interest of his little girl.”
The child has been living “for months now without her parents, which can in no way be good for her”, he added. “It is desirable to guarantee the child an education by both parents.”
Besides her musical career, Rokia Traoré is also known for her support for refugees. She became a UN ambassador for refugees in 2015.
