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Swedish Judge Orders A$AP Rocky, 2 Others Freed Pending Verdict

VOA News

   A Swedish judge has ordered U.S. rapper A$AP Rocky and two other men
   released from custody pending a verdict later this month in the
   entertainer's assault trial. The judge said Friday the verdict would be
   announced August 14.

   The case has drawn international headlines and U.S. President Donald
   Trump's involvement. Shortly after the judge made the decision, Trump
   said in a tweet that A$AP Rocky was on his way home to the United
   States. Trump had personally called for the entertainer to be released
   from custody. Several entertainers also called for the Grammy-nominated
   artist to be freed.

     A$AP Rocky released from prison and on his way home to the United
     States from Sweden. It was a Rocky Week, get home ASAP A$AP!
     -- Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) [1]August 2, 2019

   A$AP Rocky, whose real name is Rakim Mayers, and the other two men,
   were detained in early July in connection with a street fight in
   Stockholm June 30.

   In another development Friday, a witness in the case changed her story,
   testifying that she did not see the rapper strike anyone with a bottle.

   Testifying anonymously by video, the woman and her friend said they had
   not actually seen the rapper use a bottle as a weapon, but had heard
   one breaking. The woman alleged that she had seen the fight between him
   and Mustafa Jafari, the man A$AP Rocky is alleged to have assaulted.

   Both women testified that they saw the entertainer and his entourage
   striking Jafari.

   "Everything happened very quickly. We were scared for our lives,'' one
   woman told the court. "He [Jafari] was bleeding. He showed his injuries
   on his hand. He also said he had a sore back.''

   Friday was the third day in the trial of the performance artist. The
   prosecution has alleged that the rapper, alongside Bladimir Emilio
   Corniel and David Tyrone Rispers, assaulted Jafari. According to the
   prosecution, the three men repeatedly kicked and punched Jafari and
   struck him with a glass bottle.

   A$AP Rocky maintains that he acted in self-defense, telling the court
   that he believed Jafari and a friend of the plaintiff were under the
   influence of narcotics and that the two men were aggressively following
   him.

   "We pleaded and we begged and we said, 'Look man, we don't want to
   fight y'all. We don't want any more problems. We don't want to go to
   jail. We don't want to fight y'all. Please stop following us,'" A$AP
   Rocky told the court in his testimony Thursday.
   

References

   Visible links
   1. https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1157345692517634049?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

   Hidden links:
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