A$AP Rocky entered a not guilty plea to an assault charge as his trial got underway Tuesday in Sweden. Two other members of his entourage were also facing charges in the high-profile legal case that has caught the attention of President Donald Trump and celebrities.
The trial of the recording artist and model, whose real name is Rakim Mayers, began Tuesday in Stockholm District Court. The court has also set aside Thursday and Friday for the case, but it was not clear whether the trial would go the full three days.
Mayers’ mother was seen arriving at the court, and shortly after it began the performer’s lawyer submitted his plea of not guilty, claiming he was acting in self-defense.
Swedish prosecutors allege that the Grammy-nominated rapper and the two other suspects “deliberately, together and in agreement” attacked the alleged victim, Mustafa Jafari, in central Stockholm on June 30.
The charges carry a maximum sentence of two years in prison. Mayers has been in custody since July 3 and has consistently said he acted in self-defense.
The trial was being held in a secure courtroom “because of the large interest from the media and the public,” the Stockholm court said. No photographing or filming was permitted inside the courtroom.
Prosecutors alleged in more than 500 pages of court documents that the three suspects beat and kicked Jafari while he was on the ground and that he was hit by parts of or a whole bottle.
As CBS News correspondent Roxana Saberi reports, Rocky posted videos to his own Instagram account prior to his arrest, showing himself and other members of his entourage repeatedly telling two men, including Jafari, to leave him and his friends alone and to stop following them.
But another video shows Rocky and thrown one of the men to the ground and then punch and kick him several times, along with other members of his group.
Prosecutors have numerous photos of Jafari’s cuts, bruises and blood-stained clothes as part of their evidence.
The rapper’s lawyer, Martin Persson, told Swedish public broadcaster SVT on Monday that he would present the court with new evidence, including showing that “no bottle has been used to hit or injure anyone” and that the violence used was “within the limits of the law.”
A lawyer for Jafari, Magnus Stromberg, told The Associated Press last Friday that the beating started when one of A$AP Rocky’s guards “grabbed him (Jafari) by the neck and dragged him away” and that Jafari didn’t provoke the assault. Source: CBS
