The 30 year old Rakim Mayers, has been found guilty of assault during a Stockholm fight and given a two-year suspended sentence.
ASAP Rocky has been held in custody for a month, two other members of ASAP Rocky's entourage, Bladimir Corniel and David Rispers, were found guilty of the same charge.
However due to the circumstances not being serious in nature If ASAP and fellow convicted entourage commit no crimes on probation they will face no Jail time. The artist and co defendants claim they acted in self defence.
The Case Controversy
ASAP Rocky’s case raised multiple issues and subsequently gained international attention . Firstly this has raised the issue of the treatment of blacks in Europe often when thinking of racial injustice most point US and African American experience however there has been a recent trend in Europe of racial injustice due to the influx of migrants. Institutional racism towards those of African Decent has been a growing issue in countries such as the UK, Italy, France and more, furthermore this not the first time an African American has been wrongfully convicted overseas in Europe. If we point to the Freddie Gibbs case in Austria rape accusations were made against and subsequently he served Jail Despite being completely Innocent. Several Hip Hop Artist have decided to boycott sweden on future tours.
Perhaps one of the biggest controversy was Presidents Trumps response to the situations, After make comments deemed racist to immigrants and blacks such as Ilhan Omar trump attempted to gain support of African Americans through giving support to the ASAP ROCKY situation however this largely failed, Trump simply put did not understand how sweden Justice system work, offering to pay bail even though sweden does not have a bail system in fact most countries do not as it favour the wealthy and affluent, allows them to escape Justice.
However in sweden there is no Maximum amount of time someone can be held before their trial. The EU committee for prevention of torture has long critisced Sweden for its long pre trial detentions, and legal experts in Sweden have been trying to reform this for time. This case could be the catalyst prison reform in Sweden
However perhaps the biggest and most recent controversy is that the people ASAP Rocky supposedly fought were also not convicted despite in most of the released video they were being aggressor and violent, furthermore ASAP ROCKY must pay a fine which will go towards supposed victim of attack. The court said the victim of the assault, a 19-year-old refugee, was awarded damages for what the court described as the violation of his integrity and for pain and suffering.
