After the Nepali supreme court ordered his release, a French murderer who confessed to the killing of several tourists from Western countries will be released from Nepali prison.
Charles Sobhraj was sentenced to two life sentences in Nepal after he was accused of murdering a backpacker from the United States and a tourist from Canada.
In Nepal, life sentences are for 20 years. According to court documents, he had served more than 75% his sentence and was therefore eligible for release.
The 78-year old was released on good behavior and in poor health because he has heart disease.
In the past, the Frenchman admitted to killing many tourists from western countries. He is suspected of having killed at least 20 people in Afghanistan and India during the 1970s.
His main target was young backpackers along the hippie trail. He also became known as “The Bikini Killer” because several victims of his murders were found wearing swimwear.
In 1970, Thailand issued a warrant to arrest Sobhraj on charges of drugging six women and their deaths on a Pattaya beach. He was arrested in India, however, before he could be tried on these charges.
For drugging a group French tourists, Sobhraj was imprisoned in New Delhi’s Tihar maximum-security prison for over two decades.
After supplying Tihar prison guards with cookies, cakes, and sleeping pills, he escaped India’s Tihar prison in 1986. He was captured and held until 1997 when he was released.
In September 2003, he resurfaced in Kathmandu. He was arrested and convicted of the 1975 murder by Connie Jo Bronzich, an American backpacker.
He was later found guilty of the murder of Laurent Carriere, Bronzich’s Canadian friend.
Sobhraj’s crimes and life were portrayed in the joint BBC-Netflix drama The Serpent, which was released in 2021.
On Wednesday, the supreme court ruled that he must leave the country in the next 15 days. However, it did not say where.
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