The China Mail - Prosecutors seek up to 10 years prison over violent burglary of Donnarumma

The 27-year-old Donnarumma and Alessia Elefante were bound and threatened during the terrifying ordeal in their luxury apartment on Avenue Montaigne in central Paris in July 2023, a court in the French capital heard.

At the time of the burglary, the Italian international played for Paris Saint-Germain, but he moved to Manchester City in 2025.

Prosecutors at the Paris Criminal Court requested prison sentences ranging from four to 10 years against the three men alleged to have orchestrated or participated in the violent burglary.

The harshest sentence of 10 years was sought for Ilyas Kherbouch, 21, alias "Ganito" -- who gained notoriety following his brazen escape from Villepinte prison in Seine-Saint-Denis, north of Paris last March.

Prosecutors requested sentences of nine years and six years respectively for his co-defendants Khyan M., 22, known as "Kiki", who like Kherbouch is suspected of having orchestrated the violent burglary from his prison cell, and Moktar D., one of the alleged robbers.

In the early hours of July 21, 2023, Donnarumma and his fiancee were abruptly woken and held captive by four masked men who had broken into their luxury ninth-floor apartment via the rooftops.

The footballer's partner suffered a miscarriage, which was attributed to the trauma experienced that night, the court heard.

A seven-man gang -- some of whom remain unidentified -- made off in minutes with cash, jewelry, watches and luxury bags, whose worth the Italian footballer estimated at just under one million euros ($1.1 million).

The exclusive Avenue Montaigne neighbourhood has been "targeted by an increasingly youthful criminal population", the prosecutor noted during his closing arguments, listing seven celebrities who had fallen victim between 2022 and 2025.

It is a form of crime that is "highly lucrative" and "extremely violent", targeting "its own idols", the prosecution added.

The second and final day of this high-profile trial unfolded calmly, with Kherbouch apologising to the police officers he had viciously insulted on Thursday, as well as to the court.

The two alleged masterminds behind the operation denied any involvement during questioning, despite messages and images recovered from phones they had been using while in custody.

Moktar D., the only defendant present at the scene of the burglary, claimed he had merely acted as a lookout, positioned atop a building opposite the couple's apartment.

His childhood friend, also implicated in the case and accused of being an informant, had taken his own life in prison.

G.Tsang--ThChM