American celebrity and reality TV star Kim Kardashian is facing her alleged attackers for the first time in a French court.

The 44-year-old mother of four, glittering in jewels, made her way into Paris’s Palais de Justice on Tuesday, May 13, 2025, seemingly defying the individuals who allegedly robbed her at gunpoint back in 2016, as per NBC News. Her testimony comes nearly a decade after a group of supposed seasoned criminals, labeled the “Grandpa Robbers,” intruded into her Hôtel de Pourtalès suite during Paris Fashion Week, impersonating law enforcement officers.

Among the accused is 71-year-old Yunis Abbas, who authored the book I Held Up Kim Kardashian. He is one of the ten individuals, mostly septuagenarians, charged with restraining Kardashian using zip ties and escaping with jewelry valued between $9 and $10 million. This heist included her $4 million engagement ring, as reported by The New York Times.

Kim Kardashian testifies in Paris court

During her testimony, Kardashian described feeling “obviously very confused” as the intruders, donned in police uniforms, breached the luxury suite accompanied by the handcuffed concierge, Abderrahmane Ouatiki. She repeatedly questioned the concierge, “What’s happening?” in hopes that he could translate her queries for the robbers, according to NBC News.

“I said to the concierge, ‘I have babies, tell them, I just have to make it home.’”

According to Kardashian, Ouatiki told her, “I don’t know if we’re going to die.”

The Keeping Up with the Kardashians star described being “grabbed and dragged” from room to room when one of the men wrapped her hands and mouth with tape, and another pointed a gun at her. She was pushed onto a bed when one grabbed her legs and pulled her.

“I’m naked, and everything is exposed,” she said. “I was sure that I was going to be raped.”

She feared her sister, Kourtney Kardashian, would return to their hotel suite to find her “dead on the bed, shot dead.”

Prompted by Judge David De Pas’ questioning, Kardashian stated, “I absolutely thought I was going to die.”

After the robbers left, Kardashian said she shimmied to the bathroom sink and removed the tape from her hands before heading to a downstairs suite where her stylist and longtime friend, Simone Harouche, cut the zip ties from her ankles, according to NBC News.

Kardashian admitted in court that she struggled to note her attackers’ identifying features.

“You start thinking about your family, and it all goes out the door,” she continued.

Fearing the group would return, Kardashian hid in the bushes until Kourtney Kardashian and her security returned. Even then, she “didn’t know who to trust” since the assailants were dressed in police uniforms.

Kardashian has repeatedly spoken publicly about her fractured sense of security since.

Kim Kardashian on victim advocacy

Kardashian, the star of Oxygen’s Kim Kardashian West: The Justice Project and daughter of the late and esteemed attorney Robert Kardashian Sr., leaned on her work in crime advocacy to come to terms with what happened. As reported by news outlet France 24, she gave a tearful response after defendant Aomar Khedache — who is deaf — had his apology letter read in open court.

“I wanted so badly to be a lawyer and fight for people … I’ve always believed in a second chance,” Kardashian said. “I forgive you for what has taken place, but it does not change the emotion, the feelings, the trauma, and the way it changed my life.”

Khedache, believed to be the mastermind in the heist, said he was “forever grateful” for Kardashian’s mercy, citing it as “a sunshine that has enlightened me,” Reuters reported.

Kardashian has used her billion-dollar platform to be a voice for many cases she believes demand justice. In October 2024, she penned an op-ed in defense of convicted brothers Erik and Lyle Menendez in a case that has captivated the nation since 1989. In 2022, she hosted the true crime podcast The System: The Case of Kevin Keith, about a former death row prisoner convicted of a 1994 triple homicide in Ohio.

These are only a few of the many individuals Kardashian has advocated for in her ongoing pursuit of criminal justice reform.

The trial in France is expected to continue into late May when three judges and a six-person jury will decide the defendants’ fates, according to the New York Times.