A$AP Rocky has been convicted of assault in Sweden and given a suspended sentence. He was not present in the Stockholm courtroom when the verdict was handed down. Two members of the rapper’s entourage, Bladimir Corniel and David Rispers, were also found guilty of assault by the court.
A$AP Rocky will not have to serve any more jail time, having already spent nearly a month in a Swedish detention center following a violent confrontation in Stockholm on June 30. But he will have to pay damages to the victim.
“The assault has not been of such a serious nature that a prison sentence must be chosen,” the court said in a statement. “The defendants are therefore sentenced to conditional sentences.”
“The overall evidentiary situation in the case has been complex,” added the presiding judge, Per Lennerbrant. “The prosecutor has not been able to prove that the victim was struck in the back of the head with a bottle or that he was in any other way assaulted with bottles. This has affected the assessment of the seriousness of the crime.”
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The American rapper had been arrested and jailed following a confrontation with 19-year-old Mustafa Jafari. A$AP Rocky, Corniel and Rispers were held by authorities for several weeks until arguments in their assault trial wrapped up Aug. 2, at which point they were released pending the verdict.
The damages awarded to Jafari are reportedly 12,500 Swedish krona ($1,300), considerably less than he had been seeking. “The victim is awarded damages for violation of his integrity and pain and suffering, but less than he requested,” the court said. “The defendants shall, each based on their financial ability, repay the state for its expenses for public legal counsels.”
A$AP Rocky – whose real name is Rakim Myers – and his two companions had pleaded not guilty to the assault charge, arguing that they had acted in self-defense. They described Jafari as having approached them several times and looking “hostile.” A$AP Rocky testified that the situation “got a little scary.”
But prosecutors alleged that the three men used too much violence for their actions to be considered self-defense, and had asked for at least a six-month jail sentence.
A$AP Rocky left Sweden immediately upon his release from detention earlier this month. On Sunday, he performed at a music festival in California, where he told the crowd about his time in Stockholm: “That was a scary, humbling experience, but I’m here right now.”
President Trump was among those to weigh in on the case, which was the subject of intense media scrutiny around the world. Kim Kardashian West and Jada Pinkett Smith also voiced their support for A$AP Rocky. The star canceled a string of European dates after being arrested, including one at the Sonar Festival in Barcelona.
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