A$AP Rocky Deemed Flight Risk as Detainment in Swedish Jail Extended in Alleged Assault Case
Following two weeks of detainment in a Swedish jail as prosecutors investigated his involvement in a street altercation, A$AP Rocky will now be spending another six days behind bars after being deemed a flight risk.
A hearing in Stockholm District Court on Friday morning granted prosecutors’ request for more time to investigate the alleged assault, PEOPLE confirms. The prosecutor now has until Thursday, July 25 to decide whether to charge the rapper or not.
“The Court decided that the artist will remain in custody until 25 July, because of the flight risk. This gives us time to complete the investigation,” prosecutor Daniel Suneson said in a statement.
“We have worked intensively with the investigation and need more time, until Thursday next week in order to complete the preliminary investigation. As long as the preliminary investigation is ongoing, I cannot give any further comments.”
A source close to Rocky tells PEOPLE, “Rocky will now have been in jail for over three weeks with no charges since this extension has been granted. The six more days in jail could turn into closer to 20 days, if the prosecutor decides to charge him. The first court date for a trial is usually set at least two weeks after the date the charges announced.”
The source added of Friday morning’s proceedings, “The court changed prosecutors after plenty of public backlash of the original prosecutor from the public and many members of the legal community in Sweden, over the harsh punishment and detainment of Rocky. The prosecutor released a press release before the hearing saying they were going indict Rocky and then revised saying they were asking for an extension to investigate. Which was very unusual as why [were] they were ready to charge him if they were still investigating?”
A lawyer for A$AP Rocky didn’t immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.
On July 2, A$AP Rocky, né Rakim Mayers, was arrested in Stockholm following a street altercation for suspected assault, along with three others who were involved in the incident — “two of whom were suspected of serious abuse and one of the abuse of the normal degree,” the prosecutor’s office said in a press release.
A$AP Rocky last appeared in Stockholm District Court with his previous attorney Henrik Olsson Lilja on July 5, and it was then that the judge ruled on the two-week investigation — though the possibility remained that he could be held for longer if prosecutors needed more time.
On July 9, a the source close to the rapper told PEOPLE that the Swedish jail where A$AP Rocky was being held is “inhumane” and “horrific.”
“The conditions of the facility are horrific,” the source said. “Some of the inhumane conditions Rocky and his colleagues are facing at the Stockholm Detention Center include 24/7 solitary confinement, restriction of amenities for the most basic of human functions, access to palatable and life-sustaining food as well as unsanitary conditions.”
“Rocky is now being detained for an unknown period of time until they have a trial and he is having his legal and basic human rights ignored while being forced to live in inhumane conditions — all for acting in self-defense,” the source alleged.
RELATED: A$AP Rocky Allegedly Being Held in ‘Inhumane Conditions’ While Detained in Sweden: Source
In response, Fredrik Wallin, the governor of the prison where A$AP Rocky was being held, refuted a similar description of the jail put forth in a report by TMZ.
“The Swedish Prison and Probation Service has a policy not to comment on individual cases or prisoners,” Wallin previously told PEOPLE. “However, we can refute the picture of prison Kronoberg which is described in the article in TMZ. To exemplify, prison staff and prisoners drink the same municipal tap water.”
Additionally, a Department of State official told PEOPLE that “we are aware of the arrest of a U.S. citizen in Stockholm. We take seriously our responsibility to assist U.S. citizens abroad and are actively monitoring the situation. Due to privacy considerations, we have no further comment at this time.”
RELATED: Swedish Court Orders A$AP Rocky Detained for Two Weeks Pending Assault Investigation
A source previously told PEOPLE that Kim Kardashian West recently reached out to President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser, Jared Kushner, in order to appeal to the president about A$AP Rocky’s case.
The source said that Kushner then brought it to the attention of the president, who agreed that “something just needed to be checked to make sure things were appropriate.”
Trump contacted U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who has been “working tirelessly to make sure that this case is resolved in the most appropriate and fair way for an American citizen,” the source said. Since then, A$AP Rocky’s team has been in contact with the White House, giving periodic updates and making requests.
The president later told reporters, “Many, many members of the African-American community have called me, friends of mine, and said ‘Can you help?’ ” He said First Lady Melania Trump had also brought it to his attention.
A$AP Rocky previously detailed the events leading up to the arrest to his 10.2 million Instagram followers.
The first video the artist shared to his social media platform showed what appeared to be the beginning of the street incident that later led to the arrests.
In the footage, A$AP Rocky and his entourage are approached by two young men on the street when an argument between the groups breaks out. One person from the rapper’s crew, whom the rapper later claimed was his bodyguard, can be heard telling the two men to “go that way — you following us” and another person can be heard saying, “Nobody wants to fight with you bro.”
A$AP Rocky explained the incident in the caption of the video.
“So a few drug addicts are not my fans,” he claimed. “We don’t know these guys and we didn’t want trouble, they followed us for 4 blocks, and they were slapping girls butts who passed, give me a break.”
A$AP Rocky’s arrest took place after he performed at the Smash hip-hop festival in Stockholm. Prior to his trip to Sweden, the rapper had performed in Paris and also posted photos from a trip to Japan. Since the arrest, A$AP Rocky has missed several scheduled performances including those scheduled for the Open’er Festival in Poland and Longitude in Ireland.
