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A$AP Rocky is allegedly being detained in “inhumane conditions” in Sweden as prosecutors continue to investigatehis involvement in a street altercationlast week.
On Tuesday, a source told PEOPLE that the Swedish jail where A$AP Rocky is being held is “inhumane” and “horrific.” TMZfirst reportedthe news.
“The conditions of the facility are horrific,” the source says. “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 alleges.
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Fredrik Wallin, the governor of the prison where A$AP Rocky is being held, refutes the description of the facility put forth in the TMZ report.
“The Swedish Prison and Probation Service has a policy not to comment on individual cases or prisoners,” Wallin tells PEOPLE. “However, we can refute the picture of prison Kronoberg which is described in the article in TMZ. To exemplify, prison staff and prisoners drink the same municipal tap water.”
Additionally, a Department of State official tells PEOPLE that “we are aware of the arrest of a U.S. citizen in Stockholm. We take seriously our responsibility to assist U.S. citizens abroad and are actively monitoring the situation. Due to privacy considerations, we have no further comment at this time.”
A$AP Rockyappeared in Stockholm District Court with his lawyeron Friday, where the judge ruled on the two-week investigation — though the rapper could be detained even longer if prosecutors need more time.
Speaking to PEOPLE on Friday, the rapper’s lawyer Henrik Olsson Lilja said, “The prosecutor told us today that he will not probably be finished within two weeks, so my assumption is that he will have completed the investigation within around three-four weeks. We appealed the District Court’s decision today, but the Court of Appeal rejected that. Now we will probably appeal to the Supreme Court, but they will not be able to try this until next week, probably.”
A$AP Rocky previously detailed the events leading up to the arrest to his 10.2 million Instagram followers.
Thefirst video the artist sharedto his social media platform showed what appeared to be the beginning of the street incident that later led to the arrests.
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A$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 scheduled performances at the Open’er Festival in Poland as well as Longitude in Ireland. He had been expected to headline London’s Wireless festival last weekend.
Julie Jordan
source: people.com
