Ten people tied to a group nicknamed the “grandpa robbers” went on trial in Paris on Monday over accusations that they plotted and carried out a brazen robbery against Kim Kardashian in the French capital nearly a decade ago.
The defendants are accused of involvement in a violent attack on the reality TV star and entrepreneur that prosecutors have attributed to a group of veteran criminals, some of whom are in their 70s.
Ms. Kardashian was gagged, tied up and robbed at gunpoint of jewelry worth at least 8 million euros, or nearly $9 million, at a luxury residence she had rented during Paris fashion week in October 2016.
The overnight robbery of a prominent American celebrity shocked the world and raised safety concerns for tourists in Paris, which at the time was still traumatized by a string of terrorist attacks.
Five men dressed in police uniforms and wearing balaclavas burst into Ms. Kardashian’s residence. They forced the night watchman to guide two of them to her apartment and to translate as they tied her up. They took jewels, including her diamond engagement ring, and other valuables and left on foot and on bicycle minutes later.
Most of the jewelry was not recovered. But investigators found DNA, including on the zip ties that were used to bind Ms. Kardashian’s hands and feet, and police made a number of arrests three months later. Prosecutors said several of those arrested, who were in their 50s and 60s at the time, were longtime criminals.
The defendants include nine men and a woman. Some have been charged with armed robbery in an organized gang, kidnapping, and other charges; others are accused of complicity or of lesser charges in connection with the robbery. One person who had been charged in the case has died, and another is too ill to be tried, the court said.
Prosecutors say the defendants used stolen identities and fake documents to buy surveillance equipment and a vehicle, and illegally acquired firearms. The court will seek to determine how the group was so well-informed about Ms. Kardashian’s schedule and whereabouts. One of the accused is the brother of her driver during her 2016 stay in Paris.
Only two of the defendants have acknowledged their involvement: Aomar Aït Khedache, 69, also known as “Omar the Old,” and Yunice Abbas, 72, who said he was a lookout and given some jewelry and phones as he left the scene but never saw Ms. Kardashian.
Mr. Khedache and Mr. Abbas both face life sentences because they are repeat offenders. Their lawyers said they rarely used social media and did not realize how famous Ms. Kardashian was at the time.
That quickly changed. Mr. Abbas has given numerous interviews since the robbery and wrote a book, “I Kidnapped Kim Kardashian,” published in 2021. In it, he says he knew “little or nothing” about her before the heist.
“My America,” he wrote, “is that of Elvis, Roy Orbison and Chuck Berry.”
Other defendants included Didier Dubreucq, 69, a man known as “Blue Eyes” who has already spent years in prison.
The trial, which will be decided by three judges and a six-person jury, is set to last until the end of May. Ms. Kardashian is expected to testify in person, Michael Rhodes, her lawyer, said in a statement.
Over 400 journalists have signed up to follow the trial, more than ten times the amount that will be allowed into the courtroom in central Paris on any given day.
“There is great concern that this trial could turn into a show trial,” said Chloé Arnoux, Mr. Khedache’s lawyer. “The exceptional nature of the case stems more from the notoriety of the plaintiff than from the facts themselves.”
Mr. Khedache, who was on the run from a 2010 conviction when police arrested him, now suffers from a hearing impairment and has trouble speaking as a result, Ms. Arnoux said.
In 2017, Mr. Khedache saw Ms. Kardashian talking about the robbery on television and realized the “psychological damage he had caused,” according to a letter he later wrote to her expressing regret for his actions. The letter never reached the star, but was added to the judge’s file, according to Ms. Arnoux.
In a 2020 interview with David Letterman, Ms. Kardashian broke down in tears as she recounted the attack.
When she saw one of the robbers pointing a gun at her, she said her first thought went to her sister, Kourtney, who had attended a Givenchy fashion show with her just hours before and was at a Paris club when the thieves broke in.
“I kept on thinking she’s going to come home, and I’m going to be dead in the room,” said Ms. Kardashian, whose bodyguard was with her sister at the time. “I thought that was my fate.”
Abderrahmane Ouatiki, the night watchman, was diagnosed with PTSD after the robbery and did not see the robbers as just “grandpas,” according to Mohand Ouidja, his lawyer.
“He saw them as determined men,” Mr. Ouidja said, “who pointed a gun at him and forced him to his knees.”
