Convicted killer Charles Sobhraj has arrived in France after being released from prison in Nepal.
The serial killer known as ‘The Serpent’, who allegedly killed more than 20 Western backpackers during the ‘hippie trial’ across Asia in the 1970s and 1980s, has landed in Paris.
After nearly two decades behind bars in a Nepalese prison, the French national landed at Charles de Gaulle airport shortly after 7 a.m. on December 24.
According to Moi, le Serpent (Me, the Serpent) author Jean-Charles Deniau, Sobhraj was met inside the terminal building by his lawyer after his arrival.
“He’s fine, he’s a free man,” said Sobhraj’s lawyer, Isabelle Coutant-Peyre.
When asked what her next steps would be, she replied, “He will file a legal complaint against Nepal because the whole case against him has been fabricated.”
She described him as resilient and “optimistic”.
The 78-year-old man was serving two life sentences in Nepal for the murders of Connie Jo Bronzich and Laurent Carriere in 1975, but is suspected of other murders, including in Thailand where police say six women were found dead on a beach near the resort town of Pattaya in the 1970s. 1970.
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The Serpent: The Story of the Real Hippie Killer Charles Sobhraj
French killer Charles Sobhraj freed from prison in Nepal
Citing his advanced age and health, the Supreme Court of Nepal ordered the release of Sobhraj, also known as the “bikini killer”.
He was driven from Kathmandu Central Jail on Friday in a heavily guarded police convoy to the immigration department after serving more than 75% of his sentence.
He told French news agency AFP during the flight from Nepal that he was not guilty of the murders of Bronzich and Carriere
and that the case against him was based on false documents.
“I have a lot to do. I have to sue a lot of people,” Sobhraj told AFP.
A general view of the central prison
Associates have previously described Sobhraj as a trickster, deceiver and murderer.
Justice ministries in France did not respond to questions about whether Sobhraj could face criminal charges in France. The statute of limitations for the most serious crimes in France is 20 years.
