Malian Singer Rokia Traore To Be Extradited From Italy To Belgium
Traore was sentenced to a two-year prison term in absentia by a Brussels court last year on charges of parental abduction.
Rokia Traore, a renowned Malian singer and guitarist, is set to be extradited from Italy to Belgium following a long-standing custody dispute.
Traore was sentenced to a two-year prison term in absentia by a Brussels court last year on charges of parental abduction.
Arrested in Italy this June, Traore challenged the extradition order.
However, her lawyer, Maddalena Claudia Del Re, confirmed on Thursday that “Rokia will have to be transferred to Belgium within 10 days from today.”
Traore’s legal troubles began in March 2020 when she was arrested in Paris on a European arrest warrant. The arrest was linked to a Belgian court ruling ordering her to return her daughter, now nine, to the child’s Belgian father, AFP reports.
Despite a ban on leaving France, Traore flew home to Mali a few months later, defying the order before any extradition could take place.
The father’s lawyer revealed that he had not had any contact with his daughter, who currently resides in Mali, since she was four years old.
He also mentioned that the father had proposed a new custody agreement, validated by both Malian and Belgian courts, to resolve the conflict and ensure their child has a future with both parents.
