Kim Kardashian jewel heist trial starts in Paris

By Elizabeth Pineau

PARIS (Reuters) -A group of men dubbed the "grandpa gang" were among ten suspects who went on trial on Monday on charges of robbing reality TV star Kim Kardashian at gunpoint and stealing jewelry worth millions of dollars during Paris Fashion Week in 2016.

Several of the accused are now in their late sixties or seventies. They spoke one after the other in the central Paris courtroom to confirm their identity and occupation - many of them saying they were retired.

Kardashian will travel to Paris in May to give evidence in the trial, her lawyer said. She is expected to speak on May 13. The verdicts could be announced on May 23.

The suspects, wearing ski masks and clothes with police markings, tied up the billionaire celebrity with zip ties and duct tape, before making off with a $4 million engagement ring given to her by her then-husband, rapper Kanye West (now known as Ye), and other jewels, according to investigators.

"They kept on saying 'the ring, the ring'," Kardashian told David Letterman in a 2020 interview, during which she fought back tears as she recalled her fears of being raped that night.

"I kept looking at the concierge," she continued, referring to the concierge of the exclusive building who had been forced at gunpoint to lead the gang to her apartment. "I was like, 'Are we gonna die? Just tell them I have children, I have babies ... I have to get home'."

DNA traces found on plastic bands used to tie the wrists of Kardashian helped police make arrests the following January.

In total, nine men and one woman will be tried by the criminal court. Five of them - all men - face armed robbery and kidnapping charges and potentially risk being sentenced to life imprisonment. The others are charged with complicity in the heist or the unauthorised possession of a weapon.

One of the accused, Yunice Abbas, 71, has admitted his participation in the robbery - writing a book about his role. Abbas, who had spent 20 years of his working life in jail, told French television channel TF1 the "big job was to be the last".

He said he had been told a big diamond was the target but not the "The Kardashians" star.

Chloe Arnoux, a lawyer representing 68-year-old Aomar Ait Khedache - nicknamed "Omar the Old" and accused of being the group's ringleader - which he denies - said her client could end up spending the rest of his life in prison due to his age.

She said in an interview with BFM TV that he had written to Kardashian to apologise, but his letter had been intercepted by officials.

As the robbers escaped on foot or with bikes, they lost some of the jewelry, including a cross with six diamonds, which a passerby found in the street and brought to the police. But most of the jewels, including the $4 million ring, were never found.

One of the suspects is dead and another is too ill to be put on trial at this time, prosecutors said.

(Reporting by Elizabeth Pineau; additional reporting by Juliette Jabkhiro, Makini Brice; Writing by Richard Lough and Ingrid Melander; Editing by Helen Popper and Ros Russell)