Funviralpark Kathmandu, Nepal — Charles Sobraj, the self-confessed French serial killer, was released from a Nepalese prison on Friday after serving most of his sentence for murdering backpackers in the United States and Canada, before boarding a flight back to Paris. His lawyer said he was taken to the airport.
His alleged murder was dramatized in a series co-produced by the BBC and Netflix called ‘The Serpent’ that aired last year.
Money he received from a friend bought the ticket and the French embassy in Kathmandu arranged the necessary travel documents so he could fly on Friday night, said lawyer Gopal Siwakoti Chitan. Stated.
Sobhraj was escorted from the Central Jail in Kathmandu to the immigration office early Friday morning in a heavily guarded police convoy.
The Supreme Court ordered Sobhraj, who was sentenced to life imprisonment, to be released on the grounds that he was eligible for release because he was in poor health, behaved poorly, and served more than 75% of his sentence. Sobraj was said to be suffering from heart disease.
Life imprisonment in Nepal is 20 years.
The order also said he must leave the country within 15 days.
Sobhraj has admitted to killing several Western tourists in the past. He is believed to have killed at least 20 people in Afghanistan, India, Thailand, Turkey, Nepal, Iran and Hong Kong in the 1970s. His 2004 conviction in Nepal was the first time he had been convicted in court.
Sobraj was previously detained in New Delhi’s high-security Tihar prison for 20 years on suspicion of theft, but was deported to France without charge in 1997. He resurfaced in Kathmandu in his September 2003.
His nickname, Serpent, comes from his reputation as an artist of disguise and escape.
French officials have not publicly commented on his expected return.
