Charles Sobhraj, the notorious French serial murderer who inspired the Emmy-nominated television series 'The Serpent,' was released from prison by Nepal's highest court on Wednesday.
According to court spokeswoman Bimal Paudel, the court's decision was based on his age and state of health. Sobhraj, aged 78, was serving a life term at a prison in the Kathmandu suburb of Bhaktapur for the 1975 killings of two tourists, but many of his other suspected crimes remain unsolved.
Charles Sobhraj to be Released From Jail
The statement claimed that a two-judge bench of the Supreme Court ordered the government to free him immediately and deport him to "his homeland" within 15 days, CNN reported.
The court stated that Sobhraj has cardiac problems and requires open-heart surgery. Born in French-administered Saigon, Vietnam, in 1963, Sobhraj was incarcerated for the first time in France for burglary.
He was thereafter suspected of committing crimes in a number of other nations, including France, Greece, Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nepal, India, Thailand, and Malaysia.
His penchant to evade the law earned him the moniker 'The Serpent.'
According to his biographers, Sobhraj finally confessed to at least 12 murders between 1972 and 1976 and hinted at more to interviewers before retracting his statements in anticipation of future court trials. His actual victim count is unclear. In 2014, a Nepali court sentenced Sobhraj to 20 years in prison for the 1975 murder of Canadian tourist Laurent Carrière.
The BBC/Netflix thriller titled 'The Serpent' in 2021 is based on the purported killings of Sobhraj. It describes how he skirted the police throughout Asia for years while reportedly drugging, robbing, and murdering travellers along the so-called "hippie trail" - while former Dutch ambassador Herman Knippenberg worked with authorities to apprehend him.
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'The Serpent' Only Completed 75% of His Sentce
According to the court document, he has completed more than 75% of his sentence, making him eligible for release, and he suffers from heart illness.
In the 1970s, the Frenchman is alleged to have murdered at least 20 individuals in Afghanistan, India, Thailand, Turkey, Nepal, Iran, and Hong Kong. He previously acknowledged to killing many Western visitors. However, he was convicted guilty in court for the first time in 2004 in Nepal.
Per The Independent, Sobhraj was incarcerated in New Delhi's maximum-security Tihar jail for 20 years on suspicion of stealing before being deported to France in 1997. In September 2003, he reappeared in Katmandu.
The origin of his moniker, The Serpent, is his reputation as a master of disguise and escape. After 19 years in jail, justices Sapana Pradhan Malla and Til Prasad Shrestha on Wednesday granted Sobhraj's release and deportation from Nepal.
Bimal Paudel, spokesperson for the Supreme Court, stated, "The court has ruled that if there is no other cause to detain him in jail, he must be freed and sent to his country within 15 days." In Nepal, life-sentenced prisoners often serve 20 years in prison. By Thursday, Sobhraj might be freed from prison, as per ABC News.
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