Kim Kardashian Paris Jewelry Robbery's Deaf Accused Ringleader Testifies

The high-profile trial of the "Grandpa Robbers" accused of targeting Kim Kardashian in a $10-million jewelry heist in Paris continued Wednesday ... with the accused ringleader taking the stand.

The 68-year-old man known as "Old Omar" was forced to respond to questions in court via handwritten notes -- he's deaf and mute, and read questions from a typed transcript. His responses were projected on a screen in the courtroom, where he denied he was the leader of the gang.

Omar -- real name Aomar Aït Khedache -- admits he was part of the gang that broke into Kim Kardashian's hotel room during Paris Fashion Week in October 2016 ... but he denies being the head of the group, as prosecutors allege.

He's confessed to tying up Kim, who was held at gunpoint, then bound with plastic ties and duct tape and left in her bathtub as the robbers took $10 million worth of her jewelry and fled the scene on foot and on bicycles. Omar's DNA was found on the plastic ties, and video and phone data allegedly place him at the scene.

At the time of the robbery, he'd been living under an assumed name, as he was wanted in a drug-trafficking case from years earlier. Omar and other members of the "Grandpa Robbers" -- most of them are now in their 60s and 70s -- have spent extensive time behind bars, with several of the men described as career criminals by authorities. At least one other defendant was previously convicted of bank robbery.

Today in court, Omar complained of mistreatment in prison serving time in an earlier sentence, when he received electric-shock therapy, leading to his hearing loss, The Guardian reports. He's currently being held under house arrest.