Charles Sobhraj, a French serial killer who killed numerous young tourists around Asia in the 1970s, was released on Friday after nearly 20 years in a Nepali prison.
Sobhraj, 78, was escorted out of the prison by a blue police car past a crowd of reporters after his life was profiled in the popular series “The Serpent.”
The French national was transported to immigration detention, where he was led inside by officers wearing bulletproof vests while donning a medical face mask, a brown wool hat, and a blue puffer jacket.
Nepal’s top court ruled on Wednesday that he should be deported within 15 days but his lawyer later suggested this might be delayed because of health issues.
“Once he is taken to the immigration, then it will be decided what would be the next course. He has a heart issue, so he wants to get treatment from the Gangalal hospital,” lawyer Gopal Shiwakoti Chintan told reporters.
As punishment for killing a US tourist and a Canadian in Nepal in the 1970s, the court ordered Sobhraj, who underwent heart surgery in 2017, be released on medical grounds after completing more than three-quarters of his sentence.
A spokesperson for the French foreign ministry told AFP on Thursday that the French embassy in Nepal was keeping an eye on the situation.
“If a request for expulsion is notified to them, France would be required to grant it since Mr Sobhraj is a French national,” he said.
