ASAP Rocky Found Guilty of Assault After Stockholm Fight

Rapper A$AP Rocky was found guilty of assault on Wednesday for his role in a Stockholm brawl, but will avoid further jail time in Sweden. The rapper, whose real name is Rakim Mayers, was handed a conditional sentence after the court found that the assault was not “of such a serious nature” as to warrant more time behind bars, the BBC reports.

He was also ordered to pay damages to the victim.

Rocky was arrested in Stockholm in July after he and two of his entourage members got into a fight with a 190-year-old man, Mustafa Jafari. He spent nearly a month behind bars as he awaited trial.

Prosecutors had asked the court to convict Rocky, 30, and sentence him and his co-defendants to at least six months in jail. The co-defendants also received conditional sentences, which means they are not required to serve additional jailtime.

Earlier this month, a Swedish judge ordered Rocky be released from custody pending the verdict of the assault trial. He was allowed to leave the country and over the weekend told fans at a concert in Anaheim, California that the experience was “scary” and “humbling.”

Celebrities like Kim Kardashian-West, Rod Stewart and even President Donald Trump lobbied for the Harlem rapper’s release from Swedish authorities, claiming he was treated unfairly. The U.S. government even went so far as to warn Sweden of “negative consequences” had it kept him behind bars as he awaited trial.

But Sweden’s prime minister, Stefan Löfven, told Trump that he should not receive special treatment and that politicians shouldn’t interfere with judicial matters.

Rocky, who was in Stockholm headlining a music festival, said that he was treated unfairly because he is black. He and the two others accused in the assault pleaded not guilty and said they were acting in self-defense after being harassed by two men, including the alleged victim.

But prosecutors said that the incident involved too much violence to be considered self defense. Prosecutors alleged that the rapper and his companions “deliberately, together and in agreement” kicked and hit Jafari, including with a bottle.

Rocky’s lawyer said that nothing about the confrontation was premeditated or coordinated, and referred to footage showing him standing on the alleged victim’s arm and said it wasn’t the same as kicking.

The court wrote in its verdict on Wednesday that Rocky and his co-defendants “assaulted the victim by hitting and kicking him as he lay on the ground.”

“The artist has also thrown the victim to the ground and stepped on his arm.”

Photo credit: Dimitrios Kambouris / Staff / Getty