A$AP Rocky Plots First Show in Sweden Since Assault Trial

A$AP Rocky will perform in Sweden for the first time since he found himself at the center of a contentious assault trial there this past summer.

The show will take place December 11th at the Ericsson Globe in Stockholm. Tickets will go on sale November 12th at 10 a.m. local time, with a portion of the proceeds from the concert going to the Swedish Network of Refugee Support Groups, a volunteer organization that works with refugees and asylum seekers.

In August, A$AP Rocky and two associates were found guilty of assault, but were not handed any jail time for an altercation that took place in Stockholm in late June. Rocky, real name Rakim Mayers, and the two other defendants, were given suspended sentences and required to pay damages to the victim, while also reimbursing the state for “expenses and public legal counsels.”

In the verdict, the Stockholm District Court found that Rocky and his associates were not acting in self-defense when they attacked a 19-year-old man, Mustafa Jafari. The June incident had been captured on camera, and showed Rocky grabbing Jafari and throwing him through the air, while members of his entourage appeared to punch him. A$AP Rocky and Co. had claimed they were acting in self-defense, and following the initial incident, the rapper posted a video of Jafari and a friend following Rocky and his crew and ignoring repeated requests to leave them alone.

Rocky was arrested for suspected assault in early July. The rapper was supposed to be held in pre-trial detention for two weeks, but after that deadline passed with no updates, his cause quickly became a rallying cry for friends and peers back in the United States (Rocky’s manager even claimed he was being held in solitary confinement, although Swedish authorities denied this allegation).

Eventually, even President Donald Trump got involved after Kanye West and Kim Kardashian contacted the White House in an attempt to garner help for the rapper. At one point, Trump reportedly told the Swedish prime minister that he’d pay Rocky’s bail, even though Sweden does not use a bail system.

A$AP Rocky’s case finally went to trial at the end of July. Following three days of testimony, a Swedish judge announced that he would delay the verdict for a few weeks, but ruled that the Rocky and the two other defendants did not need to remain in Sweden while they awaited the decision.

via:: Rolling Stone