Charles Sobhraj, a convicted killer suspected of a string of murders in the 1970s and 1980s, was set to be released on Thursday after nearly 20 years in prison in Nepal, according to his lawyer.
Sobhraj, 78, a French national, is accused of killing more than 20 Western backpackers on Asia’s “hippie trail,” usually by drugging their food or drink while robbing them.
On Wednesday, Nepal’s Supreme Court ordered his release from prison, where he had served 19 years of his 20-year sentence, citing his age.
He had been held in Kathmandu’s high-security jail since 2003, when he was arrested on charges of murdering American backpacker Connie Jo Bronzich in 1975 and had served 19 years of a 20-year sentence.
Sobhraj has denied killing the American woman, and his lawyers have stated that the charge against him is based on speculation.
He was also found guilty of killing Bronzich’s Canadian friend, Laurent Carriere, several years later.
He was, however, suspected of many more murders.
Thailand issued a warrant for his arrest in the mid-1970s on charges of drugging and killing six women, some of whom were discovered dead on a beach near the resort of Pattaya.
He was imprisoned in India for poisoning a group of French tourists in the capital, New Delhi, in 1976, before facing charges in Thailand.
The Thai justice ministry did not immediately respond to questions about whether he was wanted on any outstanding warrants.
Sobhraj escaped from India’s Tihar jail in 1986 after drugging prison guards with sleeping pills-laced cookies and cakes.
Days later, police apprehended him at a restaurant in the Indian beach vacation state of Goa, where a statue of the man, complete with his signature peaked cap, still stands today.
He was imprisoned in India until 1997 when he was extradited to France.
After being spotted at a casino in Kathmandu in 2003, he was arrested in connection with the 1975 murders of Bronzich and Carriere.
According to his associates, he is a con artist, a seducer, a robber, and a murderer.
Last year, the BBC and Netflix collaborated on a TV series called “The Serpent,” which dramatized his crimes.
