Rapper A$AP Rocky (Rakim Mayers) was found guilty of assault by Stockholm District Court on Wednesday and handed a two-year suspended sentence. Two members of A$AP Rocky’s entourage, David Rispers and Bladimir Corniel, were also found guilty of assault following a brawl on the streets of Stockholm on June 30.
A two-year suspended (conditional) sentence means that as long as Rocky and his companions do not commit other crimes during the two-year probation period they will not have to return to Sweden to serve time.
They were, however, ordered to pay the plaintiff, 19-year-old Mustafa Jafari, $1,300 (12,500 Swedish kronor) in damages, according to The Swedish Local.
A$AP and his companions were not in in the courtroom when the verdicts were handed down on Wednesday. The Harlem rapper left Stockholm and returned to the U.S. immediately after they were released from detention on August 2.
Rocky was arrested and held by the Swedish authorities on charges of assault for several weeks following the physical altercation on the streets of Stockholm with Jafari. They were released from detention pending verdict on August 2 after the arguments in their trial ended.
Rocky and his colleagues had pleaded not guilty to the assault charge, arguing that they had only acted in self-defense. They said that despite entreaties, Jafari followed them through the streets with hostile intent, and according to Rocky, the situation “got a little scary.”
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But prosecutor Daniel Suneson argued that A$AP and his companions were never under any immediate threat of physical harm. Suneson argued that they used excessive force and physical violence and that their actions could not be reasonably considered self-defense.
According to the prosecutor, A$AP and his men hit and kicked Jafari, and assaulted him with a broken glass bottle. The prosecutors claimed that the video footage A$AP used as evidence to argue self-defense was edited and did not present a true picture of what actually happened.
Although the judge ruled that there was not enough evidence that A$AP and his aides hit Jafari with bottles, he rejected the argument by A$AP and the two members of his entourage that they were only acting in self-defense when they attacked Jafari.
The judge agreed with the prosecutor that A$AP and his aides were not under any imminent threat of physical attack so their use of violence in alleged “self-defense” was unjustified and excessive.
Meanwhile, the Praise the Lord singer shared his experience in Sweden with fans during a performance at a music festival in California on Sunday. He described his experience as “humbling” and “scary.” A$AP Rocky missed several scheduled performances across Europe while he was being held by the Swedish authorities after a court determined he was a flight risk.
Following his arrest in July, fans, colleagues, and U.S. celebrities launched a campaign on social media for his release, with many calling on Black Congressional leaders and President Donald Trump to intervene on his behalf.