• Charles Sobhraj served 19 years for murdering two visitors in 1975.
• He must return to France within 15 days.
• Most of his victims were young Westerners following the hippy trail.

A judicial decision will result in the release from a Nepalese prison of a French serial killer Charles Sobhraj who was featured in the show The Serpent.

In accordance with a court ruling, Charles Sobhraj, who served 19 years in prison for the 1975 murder of two tourists in Kathmandu, must return to France within 15 days.

Sobhraj, who was involved in a number of other tourist murders in the 1970s, served 20 years in an Indian prison.

The majority of his victims were young tourists from the West travelling through India and Thailand on the hippy route.

For the murders of a Canadian hiker named Laurent Carriere and an American woman named Connie Jo Bronzich, the legendary killer had been serving two life sentences in Nepal’s capital, one for 20 years and the other for 10.

In two different trials, he was found guilty; most recently, in 2014, he was given a 20-year prison term for killing Carriere.

Although Sobhraj’s legal team had successfully petitioned for a reduction in his sentence owing to his age and good behavior, the Nepalese Supreme Court approved his release on Wednesday.

Inmates who have exhibited good moral character and served out 75% of their jail term are eligible for release under a provision in Nepalese law.

According to Media, the verdict stated that it was against the prisoner’s human rights to keep him in custody continuously and lists regular heart disease treatment as another reason for his release.

He might be released as soon as Thursday, according to his attorney.

Between 1972 and 1982, more than 20 homicides involving drugging, strangulation, beating, or burning of the victims have been connected to Sobhraj.

Due to his talent for sneaky disguises, capacity for prison escape, and propensity to target young women, he was known as “The Serpent” or the “Bikini Killer.”

The killer’s popular BBC and Netflix series with the same name was eventually released in 2020.

Before being found guilty twice in Kathmandu, Sobhraj had already served two decades in prison in India for poisoning a busload of French tourists.

He briefly succeeded in escaping from prison during that time by drugging the guards. Later, he claimed that the attempt to flee was a plot to have his sentence lengthened and prevent his extradition to Thailand, where he was wanted for five additional murders.

After being freed from prison in India, Sobhraj was apprehended for the murder of Bronzich in 2003 after being seen in a casino in Kathmandu.

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