A trial has started in France over the 2016 heist in which armed robbers tied up Kim Kardashian and stole millions of dollars’ worth of jewellery during Paris Fashion Week.
The reality star turned business mogul was targeted during the early hours of 3 October 2016 while staying at the Hotel de Pourtales.
Kardashian is expected to testify in person at the Palais de Justice on 13 May.
Image: The Palais de Justice. Pic: AP
Her lawyers said: “Ms Kardashian is reserving her testimony for the court and jury and does not wish to elaborate further at this time.
“She has great respect and admiration for the French justice system and has been treated with great respect by the French authorities.”
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2:14
Kim Kardashian robbery trial explained
The trial began with the selection of the jury of six citizens who will conduct the trial along with three magistrates – a procedure in France reserved for the most serious crimes.
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There were initially 12 defendants in the case, but one person has since died and another has a medical condition that prevents their involvement.
Ten people – nine men and one woman – are currently standing trial.
Image: Journalists inside the courthouse on Monday. Pic: AP
Five of the suspects – Yunice Abbas, Aomar Ait Khedache, Harminv Ait Khedache, Didier Dubreucq and Marc-Alexandre Boyer – are facing armed robbery and kidnapping charges.
The remaining five defendants – Gary Madar, Christiane Glotin, Francois Delaporte and Marc Boyer – are charged with complicity in the heist or the unauthorised possession of a weapon.
Two have acknowledged their participation. The others have denied it.
The group has been nicknamed “the grandpa robbers” in local media, owing to some of them being in their 60s and 70s.
The court heard how Kardashian told investigators she was taken to a bathroom and placed in the bathtub. Her attackers fled on bicycles or on foot, and she freed herself by removing the tape.
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She then rushed to her stylist’s room and called her sister Kourtney.
Kardashian told investigators that she had not been injured. She filed a complaint, adding that she wanted to leave France as soon as possible to be reunited with her children.
According to her testimony and that of the concierge, Abderrahmane Ouatiki, at least one suspect had a handgun with which he threatened the victims.
Lawyer Henri de Beauregard, representing Mr Ouatiki, said the intruders “were experienced, determined criminals who did not hesitate to threaten him while he was working nights to finance his studies”.
Image: Abderrahmane Ouatiki, centre, was working as a hotel receptionist when he was allegedly held at gunpoint during the armed robbery. Pic: Ap
The robbers stole many pieces of jewellery estimated to be worth $6m, including Kardashian’s engagement ring.
Only one piece – a diamond cross on platinum that was lost during the suspects’ escape – has been recovered.
Two of the accused have partially confessed to the crime as their DNA was found at the scene.
Aomar Ait Khedache, 68, is one of two who allegedly entered the apartment.
Image: Defendant Aomar Ait Khedache, left. Pic: AP
Nicknamed “Old Omar,” his genetic profile was found on the tape used to gag Kardashian.
Khedache’s lawyer, Franck Berton, said his client was pleading guilty because he acknowledges his participation and “will apologise, will actually explain how it happened, how he was contacted and finally how the events unfolded”.
Khedache, who is deaf, will answer the court’s questions in writing.
He is said to have left the hotel on a bicycle, as did two others, then reportedly met his son, who was allegedly waiting for him in a parked car at a nearby train station.
Yunice Abbas, 71, admitted tying up the concierge but denied going into Kardashian’s apartment.
He said he acted as a lookout in the ground floor reception area, making sure the escape route was clear.
Image: Defendant Yunice Abbas. Pic: AP
Gabriel Dumenil, Abbas’ lawyer, said his client aims to “deliver his own truth and explain the reasons that prompted him to do this and simply perhaps also ask for forgiveness and express his remorse”.
Abbas was arrested in January 2017 and spent 21 months in prison before being released under judicial supervision.
In 2021, he co-authored a French-language book titled “I Kidnapped Kim Kardashian”.
Didier Dubreucq, 69, known as “Blue Eyes”, is the second alleged robber suspected of entering the apartment.
He denies involvement, although he was filmed by CCTV cameras, and numerous telephone contacts with the other co-defendants show his involvement, according to the investigators.
The other defendants are suspected of providing information about Kardashian’s presence in the property or accused of playing a role in the reset of the jewellery in Antwerp, Belgium.
Kid Cudi has told a court Sean “Diddy” Combs broke into his home, “messed with” his dog and opened some of his Christmas presents during a break-in in December 2011.
The 41-year-old rapper was giving evidence on day nine of the trial, after briefly dating Diddy’s former girlfriend Cassie the same year.
Cassie and Diddy dated for 11 years, from 2007 to 2018, and Cassie has testified the rapper physically abused her during most of their relationship.
Cudi described Cassie phoning him early one morning, sounding “stressed, nervous and scared”, telling him Diddy had “found out about us”.
He said Diddy later called him from his home and told him, “I’m here waiting for you”.
After dropping Cassie at a West Hollywood hotel, Cudi said he returned to his home and found no one there, but said his dog had been locked in the bathroom.
He described his pet later becoming “jittery and on edge all the time”.
He also said someone had opened Christmas presents he’d bought for his family.
While Cudi, whose real name is Scott Mescudi, said he initially wanted “to fight” Diddy, he later thought through “the reality of the situation,” and called the police to report the break-in.
Earlier this week, Cassie finished giving four days of evidence, becoming emotional at times, and testifying that Combs had threatened to blow up Cudi’s car and hurt him after he learned she was dating him by looking at messages on her phone during a “freak off”.
Prosecutors say Combs, the founder of Bad Boy Records, forced women to take part in days-long, drug-fuelled sexual performances known as “Freak Offs” from 2004 to 2024, facilitated by his large retinue of staff.
Combs, 55, has pleaded not guilty.
The rapper faces five criminal counts: one count of racketeering conspiracy; two counts of sex trafficking by force, fraud or coercion; and two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution.
Image: Diddy and Cassie on a red carpet in 2016. Pic: zz/JMA/STAR MAX/IPx/AP
The month after the break-in, Cudi’s Porsche was firebombed in his drive, with a hole cut into the roof and a Molotov cocktail dropped into the driver’s seat.
Cudi said he realised he had to talk to Diddy, before things “got out of hand,” meeting up with Diddy, who he said was weirdly “calm” and staring out the window with his hands behind his back “like a Marvel super villain”.
Cudi says Diddy told him he had still been dating Cassie during his relationship with her, with Cudi replying: “[Cassie] told me you were broke up and I took her word for it.”
Shaking hands at the end of the conversation, Cudi said he asked Diddy about “burning” his car, and Diddy replied, “I don’t know what you’re talking about”. Cudi later said he believed that to be a lie.
Cudi says he saw Diddy once a few years later at Soho House in Los Angeles with his daughter, and Diddy told him: “Man, I just want to apologise for all that bullshit”.
Image: Diddy sketched in court while listening to Kaplan’s testimony. Pic: Reuters/Jane Rosenberg
During his cross-examination, the defence suggested Cassie had been “living two different lives”, and “played” both Cudi and Combs.
Cudi concluded his time on the stand, saying his relationship with Cassie ended because he wanted “to give her space” and “the drama was too out of hand”.
Celebrity make-up artist Mylah Morales also gave evidence, describing a fight between Cassie and Diddy in 2010, which she says left Cassie with a “swollen eye, busted lip, and knots on her head”.
Image: Celebrity make-up artist Mylah Morales. Pic: AP
Morales said while she had heard the row, she hadn’t physically seen it as she wasn’t in the room.
She told the court, “I feared for my life”, explaining that she took Cassie to her apartment for several days to recover, but that Cassie refused to go to hospital as she was afraid of Diddy’s reaction.
The defence attempted to damage Morales’s credibility by listing her TV appearances, which included programmes on CNN, and with Don Lemon and Piers Morgan, attempting to paint her as attention-seeking.
The day also saw Combs’s former assistant George Kaplan complete his testimony.
Image: George Kaplan, former assistant to Combs. Pic: AP
He talked about two occasions when he had been asked to carry cash for Diddy, who he said never paid for things himself in the moment, recalling one time in 2015 when he looked after $50,000, and another when he was asked to pick up $10,000.
Kaplan described seeing “regular” physical violence between Cassie and Diddy, including an incident in 2015 with whisky glasses on a private plane, when he heard glass breaking and saw Diddy standing over Cassie in the plane’s central aisle.
He says he also saw Diddy hurling “decorative apples” at another of his girlfriends, Gina, late the same year, handing in his notice the following month.
Also known throughout his career as Puff Daddy and P Diddy, Combs turned artists like Notorious BIG and Usher into household names, elevating hip-hop in American culture and becoming a billionaire in the process.
Diddy has been held in the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn since September and faces at least 15 years or possibly life in prison if convicted.
The trial is set to last for around six weeks in total and will go into its third week next week.
Irish rock star Bono has called for Israel to be “released from Benjamin Netanyahu and far-right fundamentalists” during an awards ceremony.
The U2 frontman’s comments at the Ivors mark the first time the human rights activist has spoken out in public against the Israeli prime minister since the war in Gaza broke out in October 2023.
Bono, who received the Peace Summit Award at the 2008 Nobel Peace Laureates summit, also called for Hamas to release its remaining Israeli hostages.
It comes as Western leaders have been criticising Mr Netanyahu and the Israeli authorities over the renewed offensive in the Palestinian territory and the risk of famine due to an 11-week aid blockade, which is slowly easing.
Bono, whose real name is Paul Hewson, said on Thursday evening at London’s Grosvenor House: “Peace creates possibilities in the most intractable situations.
“Lord knows there’s a few of them out there right now. Hamas release the hostages. Stop the war.
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“Israel be released from Benjamin Netanyahu and far-right fundamentalists that twist your sacred texts.
“All of you protect our aid workers, they are the best of us.”
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The group became the first Irish songwriters to be awarded an academy fellowship at the 70th year of the awards.
U2 then performed their song Sunday Bloody Sunday, which references the 1972 Bloody Sunday shootings in Londonderry, where members of the British army’s Parachute Regiment opened fire at civil rights demonstrators.
The group ended the evening with a performance of their 1988 song Angel Of Harlem.
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Netanyahu hits out at Starmer, Macron and Carney
Also on Thursday, Mr Netanyahu said UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer was “on the wrong side of humanity” after he called for an end to the war in Gaza.
In a video he shared on social media, the Israeli prime minister also attacked the leaders of France and Canada for their criticism of Israel’s actions in the conflict.
Mr Netanyahu specifically linked the criticism from the UK, France and Canada to the killings in Washington DCof Israeli embassy workers Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Lynn Milgrim on Wednesday night.
Just hours later, Kneecap announced on their Instagram account that “we’re back”, adding that they would perform at the 100 Club on Oxford Street, London, on Thursday night.
The post also included a quote by former Sex Pistols vocalist John Lydon, who told ITV’s Good Morning Britain the rap trio “maybe (…) need a bloody good kneecapping” after footage of the band allegedly calling for the deaths of MPs emerged.
Image: Kneecap performing in Belfast last year. Pic: PA
Kneecap apologised to the families of murdered MPs last month, but said footage of the incident at their concert had been “exploited and weaponised”, adding that they “never supported” Hamas or Hezbollah.
The rappers had gigs cancelled after the footage emerged and politicians pushed for Kneecap to be dropped from the Glastonbury Festival line-up, with Tory leader Kemi Badenoch calling for Kneecap to be banned.
The group from Belfast in Northern Ireland is still set to headline Wide Awake Festival in south London on Friday.
In response to O’Hanna being charged, Kneecap said that they “deny this ‘offence’ and will vehemently defend ourselves” and branded it “political policing” in a bid to “silence voices of compassion”.
The charge came after counter-terror police assessed a video said to be from a Kneecap concert.
In the footage, O’Hanna is allegedly displaying a flag in support of Hezbollah at the O2 Forum in Kentish Town, London, on 21 November last year.
Officers from the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command were made aware of a video circulating online on 22 April and an investigation led to the Crown Prosecution Service authorising the charge, the force said.
O’Hanna – who performs under the stage name Mo Chara – is due to appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on 18 June.