Malian singer, Rokia Traore has been extradited from Italy to Belgium and detained over an outstanding two-year prison sentence handed down in a child-custody dispute.
The 50-year-old singer and guitarist was sentenced in absentia by a Brussels court last year on charges of parental abduction, in a long-running fight with the Belgian father of her daughter who is now 9 years old.
She was arrested in Italy in June and a Rome court approved her extradition two months later.
The state prosecutors’ office said in a statement that Traore was transferred upon landing in Brussels to Haren prison near the capital.
Her lawyer, Vincent Lurquin, told newsmen that she intend to appeal the prison sentence, which would trigger a new trial.
He also said both Traore and the child’s Belgian father Jan Goossens are hoping to find an agreement in the interests of the child to prevent a new prison sentence.
The state prosecutor’s office confirmed that Traore would remain in detention for the duration of the new trial.
