Frenchman Charles Sobhraj (78), who spent many years in prison for a string of murders in the 1970s, has been released in Nepal and will be deported to France.
He was taken from prison in the capital Kathmandu on Friday in front of a large group of journalists.
Later in the day, Sobhraj will be flown to France, says his lawyer Gopal Shiwakoti Chintan.
The Supreme Court of Nepal recently ruled that the Frenchman must be released for health reasons and deported from the country within 15 days. He was handed over to the Nepalese immigration authorities on Friday morning.
Poor health
– Nepal government wants to send it back as soon as possible. Sobhraj wants it too, says Chintan.
In 2017, Sobhraj underwent heart surgery. The release is in line with Nepalese legislation that bedridden prisoners who have already served three-quarters of their sentence can be released.
France is expected to comply with Nepal’s request to expel Sobhraj because he is a French citizen, a French foreign ministry spokesman said.
Sobhraj has been incarcerated in Nepal since 2003 for two murders that occurred in the 1970s. Overall, he is linked to over 20 murders in various Asian countries and was portrayed in the Netflix series ‘The Serpent’.
“Bikini Mode”
Many of the murder victims Sobhraj was associated with were Western backpackers whom he despised and saw as poor young drug addicts. He usually posed as a jeweler and often befriended his victims, before drugging, robbing and killing them.
According to journalist Julie Clarke, who interviewed Sobhraj in 2021, he considered himself a criminal hero.
French quickly became known as the “bikini killer” due to the fact that many of his victims were found in bikinis.
His other nickname, ‘the snake’, came from Sobhraj’s ability to use false identities. This also became the title of the series made by the BBC and Netflix about his life.
21 years in prison in India
Sobhraj was arrested in India in 1976 and spent 21 years in prison there, except for a short period in 1986 when he drugged prison guards and escaped. He was found in the Indian state of Goa.
He was extradited to France in 1997 and lived for a while giving paid interviews to journalists.
In 2003, Sobhraj returned to Nepal, where he was recognized by a journalist and subsequently arrested. French was sentenced to life in prison for killing American tourist Connie Jo Bronzich in 1975.
– Sounded harmless. It was pure luck that he recognized it. I think it was karma, the journalist who recognized him, Joseph Nathan, told AFP news agency on Thursday, after it was announced that Sobhraj would be released.
It was Nathan’s article in the Himalayan Times newspaper that led to Sobhraj’s arrest in 2003. Ten years after his life sentence, Sobhraj was also found guilty of killing Bronzich’s Canadian partner.
