Kim Kardashian’s Paris robbery trial to begin from 28 April: Here’s everything you need to know

American media personality Kim Kardashian, who was robbed at gunpoint in October 2016 in a Paris heist, is in the news again as the case is finally coming to court.

The case was the biggest robbery of an individual in France for more than 20 years. It even made front pages around the world.

Here’s everything you need to know:

What had happened in October 2016:

After Kim and rapper Kanye West in a week-long celebration spanning Paris and Florence, they returned to Paris for Fashion Week, reported Sky News.

However, her then-husband, West, returned to the US to pick up his Saint Pablo tour. Kim , along with her sister Kourtney and various members of their entourage, remained in Paris.

On 3 October 2016, Kardashian remained alone in the Sky Penthouse on Tronchet Street apartment while the rest of her convoy, which also included her bodyguard Pascal Duvier, went out for the night.

Three armed men wearing ski masks and dressed as police forced their way into the apartment block at 2.30 am. Two allegedly forced the concierge to lead them to Kardashian’s suite.

When the armed men entered her room, Kardashian claimed she had been “dozing” on her bed. She even stated that her social media posts may have provided the alleged robbers with “a window of opportunity”.

“I was Snapchatting that I was home, and that everyone was going out,” Sky News quoted her as saying in the months after the incident.

Kim vividly described the attack in a police report, as reported in the French weekly paper Le Journal Du Dimanche.

“They grabbed me and took me into the hallway. They tied me up with plastic cables and taped my hands, then they put tape over my mouth and my legs.”

Kim had said, as the French daily reported, the robbers specifically asked her ring and money. Further she alleged, the robbers carried her into the bathroom and put her in the bathtub. She was wearing only a bathrobe at the time, she said.

Kim initially thought the robbers ‘were terrorists’, a French police report taken in New York three months after the robbery had said.

What was stolen?

According to the police, Kim alleged the thieves took her large Louis Vuitton jewellery box, which she said contained “everything I owned”, reported Sky News.

She listed these items as having been stolen:

• Two diamond Cartier bracelets

• A gold and diamond Jacob necklace

• Diamond earrings by Lauren Schwartz

• Three gold Jacob necklaces

• Little bracelets, jewels and rings

• A Lauren Schwartz diamond necklace

• A necklace with six little diamonds

• A necklace with Saint spelt out in diamonds

• A cross-shaped diamond-encrusted Jacob cross

• A yellow gold Rolex watch

• Two yellow gold rings

• An iPhone 6 and a BlackBerry

Later police recovered only the diamond-encrusted cross, which was dropped by the robbers while leaving.

What’s expected in Court?

On 28 April, the hearing will begin at the Court of Appeal of Paris and is scheduled to last a month.

The case will be heard by a presiding judge, two professional assessors, and six main jurors. The hearing involves more than 2,000 documents and there are four civil parties.

People being tried:

Among the 12 defendants in the case, one person has died and another has a medical condition. So 10 people – nine men and one woman – will stand in trial.

Five of the robbers – all aged between 60 and 72 at the time of the incident – are facing armed robbery and kidnapping charges. They are:

The rest are charged with complicity in the heist or the unauthorised possession of a weapon. They are:

In case found guilty, the accused of the more serious crimes could face 10 years to life imprisonment.

Will Kim give evidence?

According to lawyer Michael Rhodes, Kim wishes for the trial to proceed in an orderly fashion in accordance with French law.

What delay in hearing?

Despite a manhunt after the robbery, the case was sidelined as Paris was shaken by terrorist attacks by Islamic militants in 2015, where 130 people were killed, including 90 at a music event at the Bataclan theatre.

In January 2017, 17 people were initially arrested in the Kardashian case, but 12 people were later charged.

In 2021, an order was issued to send the case to trial, as limited court proceedings were taking place due to multiple COVID lockdowns. Also, at that time, France was holding its largest-ever criminal trial over the November 2015 terror attacks.