Kathmandu: The Supreme Court of Nepal has ordered the release of controversial French serial killer and wanted man Charles Sobhraj.
The Supreme Court bench of Justices Sapana Pradhan Malla and Til Prasad Shrestha has issued an order to release Sobhraj effective from today if he does not have to spend time in prison in other cases.
Also, it has been ordered to make arrangements to return to his own country within fifteen days.
In 1975, he was found guilty by Kathmandu and Bhaktapur district courts for the murder of American and Canadian citizens. His case reached the Supreme Court from the Kathmandu District Court.
The Supreme Court had sentenced him to life in prison for murdering an American tourist, Connie Joe Bronzich, in 1975 in Nepal. In 2014, he was convicted of killing Laurent Carriere, a Canadian backpacker, and given a second life sentence.
The French citizen with Vietnamese and Indian parentage committed a string of murders through Asia in the 1970s.
Sobhraj, who has been implicated in more than 20 killings, served 21 years in prison in India for poisoning a French tourist and killing an Israeli national.
He was arrested in Kathmandu in 2004 after he was first spotted in a casino.
Earlier, the Supreme Court had upheld the verdict of the district court. Since 2003, he has been in Central Jail Sundhara.
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