Nepal SC orders release of serial killer Sobhraj in 2003 murder case

KATHMANDU: Nepal’s Supreme Court on Wednesday ordered the release of notorious French serial killer Charles Sobhraj, a Frenchman of Indian and Vietnamese parentage who has been in jail here since 2003 on murder charges.

A joint bench of justices Sapana Pradhan Malla and Tilak Prasad Shrestha ordered to free 78-year-old Sobhraj from jail, according to Supreme Court sources. The court verdict also asked the concerned authority to arrange for Sobhraj to return to his country within 15 days.

Nicknamed “the Bikini Killer” and “the Serpent” due to his skill at deception and evasion, Sobharaj is serving a life-term in the Kathmandu jail since 2003 for the murder of American woman Connie Jo Bronzich in 1975 in Nepal.

In 2014, he was convicted of killing Laurent Carriere, a Canadian backpacker, and given a second life sentence. A life-term in Nepal means 20 years in jail.