The trial of Malian singer Rokia Traoré has been postponed until January 8 in Brussels, announced Monday the president of the court, who must rule on the dispute between her and her former partner over custody of their daughter.
In October 2023, Rokia Traoré was sentenced in his absence to two years in prison for failure to present a child. The singer has just opposed this conviction, in order to be retried, this time in his presence. A conflict has pitted him since 2019 against Belgian playwright Jan Goossens over custody of their 9 and a half year old daughter, who lives in Mali and whom her father says he has not seen for five and a half years. Claimed by Belgian justice, Rokia Traoré, 50, was arrested in Italy last June then transferred to a Brussels prison at the end of November under a European arrest warrant.
Arriving handcuffed at the courthouse on Monday, the singer affirmed “never refused that the father” be in contact with their daughter, but was “afraid of bringing her to Belgium and that she would be held here”.
This affair “snowballed, it destroyed my career,” she said.
His new lawyer, Dimitri de Béco, requested a postponement of the trial to “give himself time” to delve into the case.
The daughter of Rokia Traoré and Jan Goossens “grew up in Mali, has lived there all her life and is well educated”, while she “does not know Belgium”, he insisted.
Sven Mary, Jan Goossens' lawyer, stressed that his client “wants to see his daughter, like a father. He is not asking for sole custody, but to have the right to see her during the holidays” in Belgium.
Present at the hearing, the playwright did not speak.
Me Mary recalled that Rokia Traoré had already been arrested in March 2020 in Paris, then flew with her daughter to Mali despite a ban on leaving France. “When you open the bird’s cage, it flies away,” said the lawyer.
While waiting for the new hearing, on January 8 at 2:00 p.m., the court did not rule on a new request for the release of Rokia Traoré.
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