San Francisco Frontiers - Malian singer Traore to be freed from jail in Belgian custody case

The musician has been incarcerated in Belgium since November after being extradited to the country from Italy over an outstanding two-year prison sentence.

The 50-year-old singer and guitarist was sentenced in absentia by a Brussels court in 2023 on charges of parental abduction, in a long-running fight with the Belgian father of her daughter -- now aged nine.

"Today she is a free woman," lawyer Sven Mary said.

"There is an agreement between the parties over the future of the child," he said, without giving details beyond saying she was required to remain in Europe.

Traore was arrested in Italy in June and a Rome court later approved her extradition to Belgium, where she arrived in November.

She had appealed her original conviction, and was set to be retried in person by a Belgian court later this year.

But if she and her ex-partner uphold the terms of their agreement, her lawyer said the retrial "will be a formality".

The dispute between Traore and the child's father, Belgian playwright Jan Goossens, dates back to 2019. Goossens says he has not seen his daughter in more than five years.

Traore was initially arrested in Paris in 2020 on a European arrest warrant over a Belgian court ruling ordering her to return her daughter to her father.

She disregarded a ban on leaving France and flew home to Mali, before being arrested again while in Italy last year.

Beyond her musical career, Traore is also known for her advocacy work for refugees, and was made a UN ambassador for refugees in 2015.

L.Ramos--SFF