US rapper A$AP Rocky pleads self-defence in Sweden assault trial

US rapper A$AP Rocky who faced assault charges in a Stockholm court on Tuesday over a June street brawl has pled not guilty, New York Times report.

The trial comes after weeks of detention which has stirred diplomatic tensions and fan outrage.

The 30-year-old rapper, whose real name is Rakim Mayers, was arrested on 3 July along with three other people following the fight in Stockholm on 30 June.  He was later charged with assault causing actual bodily harm. One of those arrested, the rapper’s bodyguard, was later released, according to the AFP.

Part of the brawl was captured in an amateur video published by US celebrity news outlet TMZ, where the rapper can be seen throwing a young man into the street and then aiming several punches at him while he is down.

Mayers, who faces maximum jail time of two years if convicted of assault, has claimed he was acting in self-defence, saying he was responding to harassment and provocations by the plaintiff.

At proceedings this morning that took place at the Stockholm District Court, his lawyers he had acted in self-defence.

Both Mayers and the plaintiff, a 19-year-old man, will face cross-examination later on Tuesday.

Conflicting narratives 

The precise circumstances of the brawl remain unclear, but before his arrest, the rapper published videos of his own to Instagram purporting to show the lead-up to the fight.

In those, the young man can be seen arguing with the musician over a pair of headphones, and the artist repeatedly asks the man and his friend to stop following him and his entourage. One of the young men can also be hitting the artist’s bodyguard.

A separate investigation into the plaintiff was dropped with prosecutors saying his actions were in self-defence.

Despite the rapper’s pleas of self-defence, prosecutor Daniel Suneson decided to press assault charges against the musician and two members of his entourage on 25 July, stating that he believed what happened still amounted to a crime.

In announcing his decision to press charges, Suneson stressed that he “had more material to consider than what has been available on the internet“.

According to the charge document filed with the Stockholm District Court, the evidence includes surveillance footage, witness testimony and text conversations that the prosecutor says prove there was no need for self-defence and that a bottle was used as a weapon in the alleged assault.

Photos of the alleged victim, taken by investigators, were published by Swedish media last week, revealing wounds seemingly caused by a sharp object.