A Swedish rap star was sentenced Wednesday to 10 months in prison, convicted of preparing the kidnapping of a rival rapper, justice announced, against the backdrop of an organized criminal network.
Yasin Mahamoud - stage name Yasin - was on trial for his involvement in the preparation of the kidnapping in March 2020 of another Swedish rapper, a case which had a strong echo in the Nordic kingdom.
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According to the verdict consulted by AFP, the artist had planned on March 30 and 31, 2020 to meet his victim in a recording studio, then to lure him into a car in the center of Stockholm in order to
"carry harm to his life or his health ”
and to blackmail him.
The prosecution claims that the 23-year-old artist "
received and transmitted information and gave orders and instructions on how and when"
to carry out the kidnapping.
The rapper, already convicted of carrying weapons in 2018, was included by other people in this plot when it was already at an advanced stage, according to the prosecution.
Yasin denies the facts and will appeal the decision, his lawyer said on Swedish television.
If the kidnapping was finally abandoned that weekend, it was carried out several weeks later, without Yasin's participation.
The victim was then beaten, robbed, photographed in humiliating conditions and subjected to blackmail, according to the prosecution.
The photos were released several weeks after the incident on social media, when the victim refused to pay an amount requested for the blackmail.
Much of the evidence in this case is based on discussions via the EncroChat encrypted communications network, according to the prosecution.
This kidnapping is part of a larger case involving thirty people in a criminal network accused of various crimes and misdemeanors.
On Wednesday, the head of this network was sentenced to 17 years and 10 months in prison, while 26 other people were sentenced for
"serious crimes committed within the network or linked to network crime in the spring of 2020 "
Södertörn court said in a statement.
Among them, another rapper, Haval Khalil, was sentenced to two and a half years in prison for complicity in kidnapping and theft against the same artist targeted by Yasin.
Yasin "The Don" is listened to by millions of people on Spotify and has consistently topped the music charts in recent years in Sweden.
