Rapper A$AP Rocky is facing another six days in a Swedish prison while police finish their investigation into a fight in downtown Stockholm, prosecutors announced on Friday.
Rocky, whose real name is Rakim Mayers, was detained on "probable grounds for serious assault" on July 3. Stockholm's District Court granted prosecutor Daniel Suneson's request that Rocky will continue to be held in pre-trial detention until July 25, the prosecutor's office said in a statement.
The announcement followed calls from reality TV star Kim Kardashian West, British singer Rod Stewart and many other prominent figures that Sweden free the 30-year-old American rapper.
The ruling didn't come as a surprise, said Rocky's lawyer Slobodan Jovicic, but it was "disappointing."
"I think it's very unjust," he told reporters following the hearing. "He is very tainted (by) this."
The two-time Grammy nominee was arrested with three other people a day after headlining the Smash x Stadion hip-hop festival in the Swedish capital.
Rocky and members of his entourage were alleged to have been involved in a brawl on June 30 in which authorities said a person was beaten and cut with broken bottles. He has denied the assault accusation.
Before his arrest, videos posted to Rocky's Instagram account shows that he and members of his entourage were arguing with two men on the street, telling the men to stop following them.
One bodyguard was released without charge soon after Rocky and two of his associates were arrested. But a judge extended the detention of Rocky on Friday after ruling that he was a flight risk.
Jovicic maintained that Rocky and his associates were acting in self-defense after being provoked by the other men on the street.
"They begged and pleaded to be left alone," he said.
He said that designating Rocky as a flight risk was "unreasonable" because he is a well-known celebrity, and while he must travel for work, he is determined to prove his innocence.
Even if Rocky were guilty, his continued detention and financial losses are "disproportional" punishment to the crime he is being accused of, Jovicic added.
In a Twitter post on Thursday, Kardashian West thanked President Donald Trump and senior members of his administration for trying to get Rocky released.
NBC News has not confirmed Kardashian West's claims about the Trump administration's role in the case.
The rapper has had to cancel several shows in his European tour while he remains in custody. He is due back in court on July 25.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/rapper-ap-rocky-will-remain-swedish-custody-n1031571
2019-07-19 13:09:00Z
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