French rapper Kaaris taken into custody

France: French rapper Kaaris was taken into custody for questioning on Wednesday over domestic violence allegations that he kicked and punched a former partner, prosecutors said.

The 42-year-old is famous for his 2013 album "Or Noir" ("Black Gold") that helped popularise trap music, a subgenre of hip hop, in France.

He turned himself in to a police station in Saint-Genevieve-des-Bois, outside Paris, in response to a summons, prosecutors said.

He will be questioned later Wednesday alongside his accuser, identified as Linda P. for legal reasons, her lawyer Adrien Gabeaud said.

The rapper´s ex-partner, with whom he has a child, filed a criminal complaint against him in July, prompting Kaaris to lodge his own complaint for a false report.

Linda P. "is still suffering from the domestic violence" she alleges the rapper committed in January 2021, Gabeaud said.

But a lawyer for Kaaris, Yassine Maharsi, said that "our client is innocent".

Kaaris, born in Ivory Coast as Gnakouri Okou, has been known for dark sounds and crude lyrics on his five solo albums since the release of the successful and critically acclaimed "Or Noir".