Malian singer Rokia Traoré appeared this January 8 for the second time before Belgian justice. In the case between her and the Belgian father of her daughter born in 2015, she was convicted two years ago for “failure to present a child”, hence her arrest in June in Italy at the request of Belgium. A first hearing on December 23 saw the case postponed, and this Wednesday the hearing was postponed again.
In a small, packed room in the Brussels courthouse, Rokia Traoré arrived again handcuffed this Wednesday, January 8 and she looked tired, underline the members of her support committee who came in large numbers, reports our correspondent in Brussels, Pierre Benazet. Rokia Traoré nodded to them, but she did not even have the opportunity to speak in front of the judge, because the hearing was very brief, less than half an hour.
The merits of the case have not even been mentioned, but the time is for relative optimism, because the lawyers of Rokia Traoré and Jan Goossens, the father of her daughter, have revealed that negotiations are underway between them since Christmas. The prospect of an amicable settlement is therefore emerging, but the lawyers say they are cautious given the “history” of the dispute between the two.
-The hearing was therefore postponed again for two weeks, to January 22, the judge hopes for progress by then, but in the meantime Rokia Traoré is going back to prison for at least fifteen days.
A previous hearing postponed
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