‘Serpent’ serial killer Charles Sobhraj freed from Nepalese prison

French national suspected of murdering western backpackers on the hippie trail in 1970s and 80s

Charles Sobhraj is escorted by Nepalese police at a district court hearing in June 2014. Photograph: Prakash Mathema/AFP/Getty Images
Charles Sobhraj is escorted by Nepalese police at a district court hearing in June 2014. Photograph: Prakash Mathema/AFP/Getty Images

Charles Sobhraj, the French serial killer known as “the serpent” who targeted western backpackers on the hippie trail in the 1970s, has walked free from a jail in Nepal after he was given early release.

Sobhraj, 78, had been serving a life sentence after he was convicted in 2004 for the murder of an American tourist, Connie Jo Bronzich, in 1975. In 2014, Sobhraj was also convicted of killing her Canadian companion, Laurent Carrière.

Sobhraj, who is a French citizen of Indian and Vietnamese descent, walked out of a high security jail in Kathmandu on Friday morning, after a court ruling this week that ordered his release on the grounds he had served 75% of his sentence and his health was ailing.

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