NYT: ASAP Rocky to Stand Trial in Sweden on Assault Charge

[Celerity]

The case started as a street brawl, but has ballooned into a diplomatic incident, with Sweden facing accusations of racism and human rights abuses.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/25/arts/music/asap-rocky-charged-sweden.html

The rapper ASAP Rocky was charged on Thursday with having committed an assault causing actual bodily harm on June 30 in central Stockholm, Swedish prosecutors said in a statement. The prosecution will proceed “despite claims of self-defense and provocation,” the public prosecutor for Stockholm, Daniel Suneson, said in an email.

The rapper will remain in custody until a trial begins on Tuesday, the Swedish Prosecution Authority said in a statement. The punishment for Rocky could include a fine based on his daily earnings or a maximum two years in prison, a spokeswoman for the Swedish Prosecution Authority, Annika Collin, said in a telephone interview.

Two members of Rocky’s entourage also face a trial. The development will sharpen the focus on a case that started as a street brawl, but has ballooned into a diplomatic incident, with Sweden facing accusations of racism and human rights abuses for its treatment of the rapper. Rocky, 30, whose real name is Rakim Mayers, is accused of assaulting Mustafa Jafari in Stockholm on June 30 after an altercation in the street that was captured on video. The rapper and two other men were detained on July 5 as prosecutors investigated the matter.

Slobodan Jovicic, Rocky’s lawyer, said in a telephone interview on Thursday that the rapper acted in self-defense. On July 2, Rocky posted two videos on Instagram that Mr. Jovicic said show Mr. Jafari and another man following and harassing the rapper, despite being repeatedly asked to stop. But Mr. Suneson, the prosecutor, said Mr. Jafari had been punched, kicked and struck with a glass bottle in an attack that lasted several minutes. Mr. Suneson said he had more evidence than the video clips that were published to Rocky’s Instagram and on websites including TMZ. That included footage from CCTV cameras and witness statements, he added.

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[Cartaphelius]

1. You go into someone else's

and do damage and or harm, you deserve all that you get.

The requirement, if you haven't already figure it out, is not
to be an asshole when you feel like it.