The lawyer of A$AP Rocky addressed the press after US rapper's initial testimony at his assault trial in Sweden.
ADVERTISEMENTThe lawyer of A$AP Rocky is set to speak with the US rapper's assault trial in Sweden ongoing.
Earlier on Thursday, he testified that he did everything to avoid the conflict with two men that were following his entourage.
He added that one of the men picked a fight with one of his bodyguards.
Rakim Mayers, the rapper’s real name, is accused along with two other men of his entourage of beating up a 19-year-old man, Mustafa Jafari, in Stockholm on the evening of June 30.
Mayers told the Stockholm District Court that Jafari and his friend refused to leave the entourage alone despite asking them several times and claimed they appeared to be under the influence of drugs.
He said the situation got tense when Jafari got in an argument with one of his bodyguards when the entourage stopped to download an app to use electric scooters.
“After a while, my security guard started pushing him (victim) away, begging him to leave, go from there,” said Mayers, wearing an all-green inmate uniform. He testified that he and his entourage just wanted to “de-escalate” the situation.
“Me and my crew told them that, listen, don’t go where we are going, go the other way, we don’t want any trouble,” Mayers said. But he said that Jafari was persistent and just wouldn’t go away.
“I assumed that these guys were under the influence of some kind of drug,” Mayers told the court.
Mayers pleaded not guilty at the start of the trial on Tuesday, saying he acted on self-defence.
Prosecutors said Jafari and his friend got into an argument with Mayers and one of his bodyguards near a fast-food restaurant where the rapper's entourage had eaten.
Besides Mayers, Thursday’s court session is reserved for testimony from the alleged victim, his friend, witnesses and Mayers’ bodyguard.
The case has caused a rift in US-Swedish diplomatic relations after Prime Minister Stefan Lofven told US President Donald Trump he couldn't interfere in a legal case.
Sweden doesn’t have a bail system and Mayers has stayed behind bars despite Trump’s intervention. Trump has sent Ambassador Robert O. Brien, the U.S. special presidential envoy for hostage affairs, to Sweden to monitor the court proceedings.
If convicted, Mayers faces up to two years in prison.