The high profile Swedish trial involving A$AP Rocky (born Rakim Mayers) is underway.
The trial for the 30-year-old rapper and two other men (apparently from his entourage) began Tuesday, ABC News reports. A$AP and his crew are alleged to have “deliberately, together and in agreement” attacked 19-year-old Mustafa Jafari, according to Swedish prosecutors. He was taken into custody on July 3.
A$AP taped part of the altercation, which occurred in Stockholm on June 30, and posted video on Instagram.
A$AP maintains that his actions were based on self-defense and his lawyer, Martin Persson has stated he will present new evidence during the trial. Persson claims he will present that “no bottle has been used to hit or injure anyone” and any violence enacted by his client was “within the limits of the law.”
Per ABC:
Mayers’ mother Renee Black was seen arriving at the court while his son was escorted in wearing a green shirt. She appeared “like she was about to burst into tears,” Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet reported.
Lawyers for both sides were to present their narrative of what happened on the night of June 30 at Tuesday’s court session. Testimonies are expected to take place on Thursday.
The trial was being held in a secure courtroom “because of strong interest from the media and the public,” the Stockholm court said, noting that no photographing or filming will take place during the proceedings.
According to TMZ, a key witness in the incident, Dawod Hosseini was arrested for theft two weeks following A$AP’s arrest. Further, Jafari has an assault conviction from 2016, for hitting a man in Stockholm. As TMZ notes, A$AP’s legal team may bring up the two young men’s records during cross-examination if the judge allows it.
A$AP is facing a maximum of two years in prison. The lead prosecutor stated that the prosecution won’t be recommending the maximum sentence, however. The trial will continue Thursday and Friday this week.