A$AP Rocky's assault trial is officially underway, and the spotlight has never burned brighter. After all, his freedom hangs in the balance. Despite the best efforts of President Donald Trump, who applied additional pressure by sending a Hostage Crisis Envoy to the courtroom, Rocky's fate appears to be firmly in the hands of the Swedish legal system. By now, the story is well-known. Rocky and his team found themselves involved in a street brawl with Mustafa Jafari, 19, who appeared to be an aggressor in the feud.
Yet given that Jafari ended up on the losing end of a beatdown, as evidenced by photographic proof of his wounds, many have worried that Rocky will ultimately face hard time. Yesterday, Jafari took the stand to deliver his account of the incident, and thanks to a report from both CNN and the New York Times, we have a better idea of what went down. "I felt that they would beat me to death," explained Jafari, speaking in Persian. As a result of the fight, Jafari suffered from injuries to both his head and his arms, as well as "broken ribs." He's seeking 139,700 Swedish krona to suffer the damages, which equates to an approximated $14,600. Yet as Rocky's defense explains, fear was present for both parties.
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"Please bear in mind that A$AP Rocky is an international, very well-known artist," explains Rocky's lawyer, Slobodan Jovicic. Given that Jafari's demeanor, which can be seen in the video, is that of a persistent aggressor, he explains that Flacko was motivated to strike by fear. What remains a mystery, however, is the involvement of a glass bottle, which was found at the crime scene. Though there were no fingerprints to be found, Jafari maintains that the bottle was used as a weapon against him; Rocky's team claim that the bottle was broken when Flacko was "occupied with throwing" Jafari to the ground.
Interestingly enough, Jafari maintains that Rocky and his bodyguards were the aggressors. "If someone says in a nice way, ‘Go away from here,’ then you do,” he testified, as Page Six cites from The New York Times. “But he just pushed me. What he did what wrong.”
Only time will tell how this one plays out. The trial is set to continue on Thursday.