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Guns N' Roses manager lashes out at Swedish authorities
Guns N' Roses manager Merck Mercuriadis issued a statement Thursday (6/29) night in which he claimed that Axl Rose 's arrest earlier this week--which ended when the singer pleaded guilty to charges leveled against him and paid a fine--was "tantamount to being held for ransom."
As previously reported, Rose was arrested in Stockholm, Sweden, on Tuesday (6/28), the morning after G N' R performed in the city, and was charged with assaulting a hotel security guard and damaging the hotel. He was eventually released after he pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges of violent conduct and criminal damage, and agreed to pay a fine of 40,000 crowns ($5,460), as well as 10,000 crowns in compensation to the guard, according to Reuters.
Mercuriadis suggested that the Swedish authorities were "very aware" that G N' R had imminent, sold-out concerts in Oslo, Copenhagen and Zurich, and were "fully aware that there were millions of dollars at stake," yet "continually threatened" Rose over a 12-hour period with between 5 days to three weeks incarceration without bail "if Axl did not 'cooperate.'"
"In addition to this," Mercuriadis added, "we are also not happy at the treatment [Rose] received. He was arrested after being accosted by a security guard in his hotel, following which he was physically mistreated by the arresting officer in the process of which a valuable bracelet went missing not to be returned. While in custody, he was held down by 5 police officers while a doctor tried to take blood to administer a drug test 3 different times. This illustrates not only the level of incompetence, but malice involved. The results of the test were negative, but the exercise was a clear example of an authoritarian approach trying to flex its muscles. This is the same draconian approach that assumes the security guard in question is telling the truth just because he has a badge."
G N' R--of which Rose is the only remaining original member--are working the road in anticipation of the long-delayed release of "Chinese Democracy," which will be the group's first album of original material since the early '90s. No specific release date has been announced.
