US rapper A$AP Rocky faces assault charges in a Stockholm court on Tuesday over a June street brawl, 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 July 3 along with three other people following the fight in Stockholm on June 30.
One of them, the rapper’s bodyguard, was later released. 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. The trial is scheduled to start at 9:30 am (0730 GMT) at the Stockholm District Court.
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. (AFP)
