(Brussels) Malian singer Rokia Traoré, incarcerated since the end of November in Brussels as part of a conflict with her Belgian ex-husband over custody of their daughter, will be released, lawyers for both parties announced on Wednesday.
Posted at 11:02 a.m.
Updated at 11:27 a.m.
Mme Traoré, in conflict with Belgian playwright Jan Goossens since 2019 over the custody of their child, reached an agreement with the latter which was validated under certain conditions by the Brussels court during a hearing behind closed doors, explained lawyers to the press.
“Today, Madame Traoré finds freedom,” declared her lawyer, Dimitri de Béco.
The singer and guitarist, who will be 51 years old on Friday, was sentenced in October 2023 by the Brussels criminal court to a two-year prison sentence for “non-representation of a child”.
At the time, this criminal conviction resulted from the fact that she had refused to submit to the decision of a Belgian civil judge granting custody of the child to the father. She refused to appear in court and was convicted in absentia.
Jan Goossens accuses Rokia Traoré of having prevented him from seeing their child for five and a half years – when the little girl was 4 years old – and of having constantly evaded the Belgian judges.
-“Snowball party” affair
Now, after her arrest in Italy in June 2024, her handover to Belgium at the end of November, and a new period of incarceration of almost two months in Brussels, Rokia Traoré has agreed to come to an agreement with Jan Goossens so that both can see the child again, who currently lives in Mali.
The two parties refused to specify on Wednesday when and in what country their respective reunions would take place, citing “an agreement remaining confidential, in the interest of the child”.
According to Sven Mary, lawyer for Mr. Goossens, Mr.me Traoré has the obligation to remain “in Europe”, not necessarily in Belgium, and will have to appear before the Belgian courts for the next hearings.
A new hearing is planned for June in Brussels to examine the implementation of the agreement and schedule pleadings on the merits, which could take place at the end of the year, according to Ms.e Dimitri de Béco.
Mme Traoré, who opposed his 2023 default conviction, will have to be retried by the same court, as provided for by Belgian law. But “if the convention is respected, it will be a formal hearing,” said Sven Mary, welcoming the “constructive” attitude of the opposing party in the amicable discussions.
This affair “snowballed, it destroyed my career,” Rokia Traoré admitted at the end of December, during the first public hearing in Brussels since her extradition from Italy.
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