Paris (AP) – The trial for the theft of 2016 in which armed thieves tied Kim Kardashian in his bedroom and robbed jewels valued in millions of dollars during fashion week began Monday in Paris.
Ten people, nine men and one woman, are being judged by charges of theft and kidnapping of the media personality and the janitor of the residence where the night of October 2, 2016 was staying. Two of them recognized their participation, but the others have denied it.
The trial began with the jury of six citizens who will carry out the process together with three magistrates, a procedure in France reserved for the most serious crimes.
In interviews and in his family’s Telerreality program, Kardashian has described feeling terrified, thinking that he was going to be raped and killed when the criminals broke into his bedroom and pointed him with a gun.
Follow our WhatsApp channel for more news! Join here
His lawyers said he will testify in person at the trial that is scheduled to last until May 23. It is expected to declare on May 13.
“Mrs. Kardashian is reserving her testimony for the court and the jury and does not want to give more details at this time,” they said. “She has great respect and admiration for the French justice system and has been treated with great respect by the French authorities.”
In an appearance in 2020 in the Netflix program by David Letterman, Kardashian remembered with tears thinking: “This is the time they are going to rape me. I am like, ‘What’s happening? Are we going to die? Just tell them that I have children. I have babies, I have a husband, I have a family'”.
Originally, twelve people were expected on the bench of the defendants, but one has dead and another is seriously ill and cannot be judged. According to the investigation, five of the ten defendants were present at the theft scene.
The ´Abuelos thieves’
The French press has nicknamed “grandparents thieves” because the main defendants are older and have been hurations of banks with long criminal records.
Kardashian told researchers that she was taken to a bathroom and placed in the bathtub. Her attackers fled by bicycles or foot, and she released the tape.
He ran to his stylist’s room and called his sister Kourtney. Shortly after, Kardashian told researchers that he had not been injured. He filed a complaint, adding that he wanted to leave France as soon as possible to meet with his children.
According to his testimony and that of the janitor, at least one suspect had a gun with which he threatened the victims.
Jewelry of dollars
The thieves stole many pieces of jewelry, including a ring valued at more than 6 million dollars. Only one piece, a cross with Platinum diamonds that was lost during the escape of the suspects, has been recovered.
Two of the defendants have partially confessed the crime, since their DNA was found in the scene.
The alleged leader, Aomar Aït Khedache, 68, is one of the two suspects of having entered the apartment. Nicknamed “Viejo Omar”, his genetic profile was found on the tape used to gag Kardashian.
Khedache, who is deaf, will answer the questions of the court in writing.
He left the hotel by bicycle, like two others, and then met with his son, who was waiting for him in a car parked at a nearby train station.
Another said he tied to the janitor with cables, but did not go up to Kardashian’s apartment. Yunice Abbas, 71, said he acted as a vigía in the reception area of the ground floor, making sure the escape route was clear. He said he was not armed and that he did not personally threaten Kardashian, but admitted that he shared the responsibility of the crime.
Abbas was arrested in January 2017 and spent 21 months in prison before being released under judicial supervision. In 2021, he co -written a book in French entitled “J´Ai Séquestré Kim Kardashian” (I kidnap Kim Kardashian).
Didier Dubreucq, 69, known as “blue eyes”, is the second alleged thief suspected of having entered the apartment. It denies any involvement, although it was filmed by security cameras, and numerous telephone contacts with the other coacked show their involvement, according to the investigation.
The other defendants are suspected of providing information on Kardashian’s presence in the apartment. Others are accused of having played a role in the resale of jewels in Antwerp, Belgium.
