A notorious French serial killer suspected of killing more than a dozen people in various countries has been released from prison in Nepal after 19 years.
Charles Sobhraj was released from prison in Nepal on Friday and taken to the airport to return to his native France after being released 19 years after his life sentence, which in Nepal is 20 years, for killing American and Canadian backpackers.
The Supreme Court had ordered that Sobhraj be released due to poor health, good behavior and having served more than 75% of his sentence, for which he could be released. He said that Sobhraj has heart disease.
The 78-year-old French national is believed to have killed at least 20 people in Afghanistan, India, Thailand, Turkey, Nepal, Iran and Hong Kong during the 1970s. His 2004 conviction in Nepal was the first time he was found guilty. in a court.
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Nepali police escort Charles Sobhraj, wearing a brown cap, to the immigration office in Kathmandu, Nepal, Friday, December 23, 2022.
(AP Photo/Niranjan Shrestha)
Sobhraj, who primarily preyed on young backpackers on the “hippie trail” through Asia, usually drugging their food or drink while stealing them, appeared in the 2021 Netflix drama series “The Serpent.”
Sobhraj earned the nickname “Snake” for the disguises he wore to evade police over the years and was known as the “bikini killer” in Thailand due to the clothing worn by many of his alleged victims.
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French serial killer Charles Sobhraj is escorted by Nepalese police at a district court for a hearing on a case involving the murder of Canadian backpacker Laurent Ormond Carriere, in Bhaktapur on June 12, 2014.
(PRAKASH MATHEMA/AFP via Getty Images)
After his release, Sobhraj told the AFP news agency that he planned to sue the people who jailed him saying: “I feel great… I have a lot to do. I have to sue a lot of people. Including the state of Nepal. “
Sobhraj maintained his innocence to a reporter on the plane before leaving for France, AFP reported.
“I’m innocent in those cases, okay? So I don’t have to feel good or bad about it. I’m innocent. It was based on false documents,” Sobhraj said.
While in prison, Sobhraj married Nihita Biswas, a Nepali woman 44 years his junior, in 2008.
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Charles Sobhraj’s lawyer, Gopal Siwakoti, right, speaks to the media outside the immigration office in Kathmandu, Nepal, Friday, December 23, 2022.
(AP images)
“I am happy and have great respect for our judiciary and the Supreme Court,” Sobhraj’s mother-in-law, Sakuntala Thapa, told Reuters partner ANI after the news of his release was announced.
Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
