'Serpent' serial killer Charles Sobhraj freed in Nepal
French serial killer Charles Sobhraj, responsible for multiple murders in the 1970s across Asia, was freed after spending almost 20 years in a Nepali prison.
After leaving Kathmandu's Central Jail, the 78-year-old was taken to immigration detention and then to Kathmandu airport for his deportation to France where he was expected.
The court ordered Sobhraj, who had heart surgery in 2017, be released on health grounds after he served more than three-quarters of his sentence for murdering a US tourist and a Canadian in Nepal in the 1970s.
French serial killer Charles Sobhraj says that he feels "great" after being released from jail in Nepal where he served almost 20 years for murder.
"I feel great... I have a lot to do. I have to sue a lot of people. Including the state of Nepal," Sobhraj said.
"The courts in Nepal, from the district court to high court to supreme court, all the judges, were biassed against Charles Sobhraj," he said.
"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," he added.
Born in Saigon to an Indian father and a Vietnamese mother who later married a Frenchman, Sobhraj embarked on an international life of crime and ended up in Thailand in 1975.
Nicknamed the "bikini killer", he was eventually linked to more than 20 murders.
Sobhraj's life was chronicled in the Netflix series "The Serpent".
