OAN Geraldyn Berry
UPDATED 2:22 PM PT – Friday, December 23, 2022
French serial killer Charles Sobhraj was freed from prison in Nepal on Friday.
According to lawyer Gopal Siwakoti Chitan, a ticket was bought for Sobhraj to return to his home land of France with money given to him by a friend. The Frenchman was ordered to leave Nepal within 15 days of his release.
The French Embassy in Kathmandu has prepared the required travel documents to permit him to board a flight Friday night.
After being sent back to France, he will reportedly be unable to visit the country for at least ten years.
Sobhraj’s legal team successfully petitioned for a reduction in his prison term. The Nepalese Supreme Court approved his release on Wednesday.
The 78-year-old was given a life sentence in Nepal but was allowed to leave prison because of his poor health, excellent behavior, and the completion of 75% of his term.
“Keeping him in the prison continuously is not in line with the prisoner’s human rights,” the verdict read.
Life sentences carry 20 years in Nepal and Sobhraj has served 18.
Sobhraj informed the AFP News agency that he intended to sue the people who had imprisoned him after being freed.
“I feel great,” Sobhraj said. “I have a lot to do. I have to sue a lot of people. Including the state of Nepal. I am innocent in those cases, ok? So I don’t have to feel bad for that, or good. I am innocent. It was built on fake documents.”
In a redacted confession, Sobhraj allegedly killed at least 20 people in Afghanistan, India, Thailand, Turkey, Nepal, Iran and Hong Kong during the 1970s.
To charm and make friends with visitors, Sobhraj would assume the persona of a successful diamond trader or drug dealer. He would frequently invite them to expensive parties or make them part of his group before robbing them and, in some cases, killing them.
He had never been proven guilty before his 2004 conviction in Nepal.
In his initial string of murders, the 78-year-old earned the nickname “The Bikini Killer” in Thailand due to the attire many of his suspected victims were wearing. Sohraj was also a disguise and escape artist, evading police, thus earning him “The Serpent”
His purported murders were portrayed in “The Serpent,” a series co-produced by the BBC and Netflix and released last year.
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