A$AP Rapper was officially charged with assault in Sweden and is now facing years in prison.
The Harlem rapper, who has been in a Swedish jail for a June 30 street brawl, will stand trial next week, according to NBC News. A$AP Rocky’s lawyer said Thursday morning that the trial will begin on Tuesday. Swedish Prosecution Authority said in a statement that it recommends three days be set aside for the hearing, and Rocky will remain in jail until it begins. On Monday Swedish prosecutors dropped all charges against the man involved in the fight that sent Rocky, born Rakim Meyers, to jail.
The 30-year-old MC and his crew claimed, in several videos shot leading up to the fight in Stockholm, that the man was following and harassing them on the street while they were in Sweden during a European tour. A$AP Rocky and his bodyguard asked the man and another man accompanying him to turn the other direction several times, and warned that they didn’t want the incident to get violent. When the man refused to stand down, A$AP Rocky’s bodyguard appeared to shove him out the way on camera, and the man threw his headset at him. Rocky’s body guard filed a counter-notice after the rapper’s arrest, but prosecution said they felt the Swedish man was acting in self-defense.
“Together they have handed out blows and kicks against a lying person,” prosecutor Daniel Suneson said in the statement Thursday after charges were filed against ASAP. “The plaintiff has been injured on the arms, among other things.”
A$AP Rocky’s lawyer has tried to get him out on bail but prosecutors argued he was a flight risk, and the judge ordered he remain in jail, in what his comrade A$AP Ferg claimed were inhumane conditions in isolation with no visitation.
Several rappers and celebrities have spoken out on Rocky’s behalf while he sat behind bars including Tyga and Tyler, the Creator who swore to cancel all shows in Sweden until the “Testing” rapper was freed. Even Kim Kardashian and Kanye West hoped to get him out with the help of President Donald Trump and the White House. President Trump tweeted last weekend that he spoke with the Swedish Prime Minister and assured A$AP Rocky would be treated fairly.
On Thursday, Rocky’s lawyer was asked if he heard that the President was advocating on his behalf to which he replied that his client was thankful for the support shown “by a lot of people,” NBC News said. After speaking with Trump, Sweden’s Prime Minister Stefan Löfven warned that Rocky would not get special treatment despite the president’s public intervention in the case.
