A Major Move Is Being Made In Kim Kardashian's Paris Robbery Case

Nearly five years after reality star and criminal justice reform advocate Kim Kardashian West was held at gunpoint during an orchestrated heist in an apartment she rented in Paris during the city's 2016 Fashion Week, it appears the case is finally making headway in the French courts. As the Associated Press reported on November 19, an official announced judges investigating the case had moved ahead with a major step which could ultimately close a traumatic chapter in the life of the industry multi-hyphenate.

At the time, the crime made international headlines for both the scale of the evaluated $10 million robbery — items stolen from Kim included a gold Rolex, Lorraine Schwartz diamond earrings, two diamond Cartier bracelets, and a number of other highly expensive pieces of jewelry, per People magazine — and the fact that Kim was present and in danger at the hands of burglars during the incident. 

Kim herself recounted her experience during an episode of "Keeping Up With the Kardashians" during the show's 13th season in 2017. As she recalled in the episode, Kim told the robbers who broke into her apartment that she did not have any money, after which she was bound with zip-ties, dragged out into the hallway, and held at gunpoint. 

Kim Kardashian West was able to escape from her would-be captors during the robbery, as an anonymous source told People, the reality star and beauty mogul "managed to squeeze her hands out" the zip-ties "by wriggling her hands" before alerting others by screaming from a balcony for help. Now, it appears at least 12 people suspected to be involved in the heist will finally face trial nearly five years later. 

As the Associated Press noted, 17 men were originally arrested in connection to the robbery, though five of them have since been released; one of them, Yunice Abbas, wrote a tell-all about the incident. At least one other figure central to the burglary, Aomar Ait Khedache, expressed remorse for the psychological and physical trauma he inflicted upon Kim by way of a letter he penned to her personally in 2017. 

"After observing your emotion and realizing the psychological damages I inflicted ... I decided to write to you, not to obtain from you some sort of indulgence," Khedache's letter read, which was obtained by TMZ through Kim's legal team. "I want to come to you as a human being to tell you how much I regret my gesture, how much I have been moved and touched to see you in tears." According to People and AP, Kim has yet to comment on the latest developments in the case.