Prosecutors in Sweden will not pursue charges against a man who allegedly harassed American rapper ASAP Rocky last month, provoking an apparent brawl that landed the two-time Grammy nominee in jail on assault charges, authorities said Monday.
In a statement, the prosecutor’s office in Stockholm said a preliminary investigation into allegations of abuse, assault and attempted assault against the man, who has not been identified, had been “discontinued.”
He "is no longer suspected of any crime," the statement said.
Rocky, 30, and two co-defendants remain behind bars on charges of allegedly assaulting the man on a Stockholm street after headlining the Smash x Stadion hip-hop festival last month.
Rocky’s lawyer, Slobodan Jovicic, has said that the rapper and his entourage “begged and pleaded” with the man to leave them alone — video posted to Rocky's Instagram account seemed to back up the story and the prosecutor's office appeared to confirm that version of events on Monday.
“They came into a situation where he acted in self-defense,” Jovicic told reporters last week, adding that the man was "violent" and "harassed" the group.
In Monday's statement, prosecutor Daniel Suneson said that someone in Rocky’s entourage then pushed the man, grabbed him by his neck and lifted him a “few meters.”
The man then threw his headphones at someone in Rocky's group, Suneson said, adding this could be considered "a right to self-defense."
On Friday, a district court judge in Stockholm ruled that Rocky, whose real name is Rakim Myers, is a flight risk and ordered that he remain in jail while the prosecutor’s office investigates the case.
The office has until July 25 to complete the investigation.
The case has earned the attention of a growing list of celebrities, as well as a Change.org petition with more than 600,000 signatures calling for Rocky’s release.
After Friday’s ruling, President Donald Trump intervened in the case, telling Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven that the rapper wasn’t a flight risk and that he’d “personally vouch” for Rocky’s bail.
Lofven said that while he welcomed a conversation with Trump, he planned to tell him that Sweden’s judicial system is independent.
"In Sweden, everyone is equal before the law, and this includes visitors from other countries," Lofven said.