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Eight defendants had been convicted of crimes linked to the 2016 theft of actuality TV star Kim Kardashian practically 10 years after the high-profile heist.
According to NBC News, two of the ten defendants had been acquitted on expenses of planning and finishing up the armed theft throughout Paris Fashion Week 9 years in the past.
A court docket within the French capital determined the decision within the trial of the “grandpa robbers” accused of stealing tens of millions of {dollars} of Kardashian’s jewellery.
The theft was thought-about the most important heist focusing on a person that Paris had seen in many years. The jury of six residents performed the trial, together with three magistrates — a process in France reserved for essentially the most critical crimes.
The panel of three judges and 6 jurors wanted a majority vote of seven to achieve a call. Kardashian wasn’t current Friday for the decision, which was reached shortly after 8 p.m. native time or 2 p.m. ET.
Nine males and a lady stood accused of finishing up or aiding the crime, when the robbers, dressed as police, compelled their manner into the glamorous Hôtel de Pourtalès, certain Kardashian with zip ties and escaped with $6 million price of her jewellery.
After delivering remaining statements in court docket, the defendants had been dismissed Friday morning, with a verdict lastly being delivered by the afternoon.
Aomar Aït Khedache, the alleged ringleader, was sentenced to eight years imprisonment however 5 of these are suspended.
Three others who had been accused on essentially the most critical expenses received seven years, 5 of them suspended. With time already served in pretrial detention, none of these discovered responsible will go to jail, in accordance with The Associated Press.
Defendant Aomar Aït Khedache is seen exterior the Palais De Justice on April 28, 2025 in Paris, France.
Pierre Suu/Getty Images
Kardashian issued an announcement after the ruling was introduced.
“I am deeply grateful to the French authorities for pursuing justice in this case,” she mentioned. “The crime was the most terrifying experience of my life, leaving a lasting impact on me and my family. While I’ll never forget what happened, I believe in the power of growth and accountability and pray for healing for all. I remain committed to advocating for justice, and promoting a fair legal system.”
Khedache’s DNA, discovered on the bands used to bind Kardashian, was a key breakthrough that helped crack open the case. Wiretaps captured him giving orders, recruiting accomplices and arranging to promote the diamonds in Belgium. A diamond-encrusted cross, dropped through the escape, was the one piece of jewellery ever recovered.
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Khedache mentioned he was solely a foot soldier. He blamed a mysterious “X” or “Ben” — somebody prosecutors say by no means existed.
His lawyer pleaded for clemency, pointing to one of many trial’s most visceral moments — Kardashian’s earlier courtroom encounter with the person accused of orchestrating her ordeal.
“She looked at him when she came, she listened to the letter he had written to her, and then she forgave him,” lawyer Franck Berton instructed The Associated Press.
“I do appreciate the letter, I forgive you,” Kardashian instructed Khedache. “But it doesn’t change the feelings and the trauma and the fact that my life was forever changed.”
Kardashian testified on May 13 in a packed Paris courthouse and instructed the jury that she thought she was going to be sexually assaulted through the 2016 heist.
“I was certain that was the moment that he was going to rape me,” she instructed a Paris court docket Tuesday. “I absolutely did think I was going to die.”
Kardashian, who was tearful at instances, mentioned she was preparing for mattress when she heard loud footsteps ascending the steps to her lodge room, telling the court docket that in the first place she thought it was her sister Kourtney and a good friend getting back from a Paris Fashion Week occasion within the early hours of Oct. 3.
She recalled calling out to ask who was there earlier than masked males entered the room.
“I obviously was very confused. I had to make sense of what was happening. I was just about to fall asleep, naked with a robe on,” she instructed the court docket.
“Honestly, a lot of terrorist attacks were happening in the world, and I thought it was some sort of terrorist attack, and I didn’t immediately understand it was for my jewelry.”
This court docket sketch made on May 13, 2025 in Paris reveals US movie star Kim Kardashian (C), subsequent to co-accused Aomar Ait Khedache, testifying earlier than the Assize Court for the trial over the 2016 theft.
AFP) (Photo by BENOIT PEYRUCQ/AFP through Getty Images
She mentioned the suspects arrived at her lodge dressed as law enforcement officials and held the concierge hostage. He was dragged into her room, handcuffed, in accordance with Kardashian.
One attacker started gesturing at her diamond ring.
“He said, ‘Ring! Ring!’ and he pointed to his hand,” she recalled.
Kardashian grabbed her cellphone to name the police, however didn’t know the French emergency quantity. She then tried to contact her sister and bodyguard, however was stopped by one of many masked assailants.
The males dragged her to the toilet, she mentioned, the place they taped her mouth and instructed her she wouldn’t be harmed so long as she didn’t make any noise.
She recalled being dealt with aggressively by the suspects, however mentioned they didn’t hit her.
“I was not hit. No, I was grabbed, and dragged into the other room, and thrown onto the floor, but wasn’t hit, no,” she instructed the court docket.
“[The gun] was pointed towards me to get me to go from room to room, and it was pointed toward me on the bed at the end.”
Her testimony marked a long-awaited second in a trial that has captivated France and the broader world for nearly a decade, and reignited discussions in regards to the worth of fame in addition to the dangers of dwelling within the public eye.
Kardashian was joined by her mom, Kris Jenner, within the closely guarded Parisian courtroom. Dressed in black with $1.5 million price of diamonds draped round her neck — in accordance with a press launch her crew despatched to journalists on the trial, experiences The Associated Press — her voice quivered as she thanked the French authorities for permitting her to “speak my truth.””
US movie star Kim Kardashian (L) leaves together with her mom Kris Jenner (R) the Assize Court after testifying in a trial over the 2016 theft that noticed her relieved of tens of millions of {dollars}’ price of jewellery at gunpoint in Paris, on May 13, 2025.
LEO VIGNAL/AFP through Getty Images
One of the suspects in the armed theft mentioned he regrets the “trauma” he precipitated Kardashian practically 9 years later.
Defendant Yunice Abbas mentioned this was the primary time he really acknowledged the “trauma” he precipitated Kardashian, because the trial started on April 29 within the proceedings in opposition to 10 individuals charged in reference to the 2016 theft.
“I regret it, not because I got caught, but because … there was a trauma,” Abbas, 72, instructed the jury.
Defendant Yunice Abbas arrives for the beginning of the tria for the 2016 theft and kidnapping of US movie star Kim Kardashian on the Assize Court of Paris, on April 28, 2025.
MAGALI COHEN/Hans Lucas/AFP through Getty Images
Abbas was the primary of a number of defendants set to testify within the trial and had beforehand confessed to his position within the crime in his 2021 e book, titled I Kidnapped Kim Kardashian, which got here up through the testimony.
He claimed that he was not chargeable for the title of the e book and he mentioned he was not concerned in tying up Kardashian through the theft, in accordance with NBC News.
Abbas mentioned he acted as a lookout on the reception space on the bottom ground, making certain the escape route was clear. He mentioned he was unarmed and didn’t personally threaten Kardashian, however acknowledged he shared duty for the crime.
He was arrested in January 2017 and spent 21 months in jail earlier than being launched beneath judicial supervision. Abbas and 9 others, known as the “grandpa robbers” in native media on account of their ages, are alleged to have performed completely different roles within the heist.
According to Abbas, minutes after the raid began, his accomplices got here down from Kardashian’s condominium and gave him a bag of jewellery.
As he was fleeing the scene on a bicycle, he noticed a police automobile, however officers weren’t but conscious of the theft. Abbas mentioned that as he rode the bicycle, the bag containing the jewellery turned caught within the entrance wheel and he fell to the bottom, spilling the contents of the bag.
“I picked the jewels up and left,” he mentioned.
The following morning, a passerby discovered a diamond-encrusted cross on the street and handed it to police. That was the one jewellery from the theft that was ever recovered.
Abbas claimed he didn’t know Kardashian’s id on the time of the theft.
Twelve individuals had been initially anticipated within the defendants’ field. One has died and one other is severely unwell and might’t be tried. According to the investigation, 5 of the ten defendants had been current on the scene of the theft
— With recordsdata from Global News’ Rachel Goodman and The Associated Press
