Killer dubbed ‘The Serpent’ arrives in France from Nepal

PARIS

Convicted killer Charles Sobhraj, suspected in the deaths of at least 20 tourists around Asia in the 1970s, arrived in Paris as a free man Saturday after being released from a life sentence in a Nepal prison.

It was the latest twist in a dramatic life trajectory depicted in a series coproduced by the BBC and Netflix called “The Serpent,” which aired last year. He has in the past admitted to killing Western tourists around Asia.

Sobhraj, a 78-year-old French citizen, had been serving time for the deaths of American and Canadian backpackers in Nepal in 1975, but was released Friday for health and other reasons.

He arrived Saturday at Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris on a flight from Nepal via Qatar, his

French lawyer, Isabelle Coutant-Peyre, said.

He is glad to be free, she said, and “now he will rest.” She described him as an “optimist” and resilient.

French filmmaker JeanCharles Deniau, who spoke to Sobhraj upon his arrival in Paris and is releasing a film and book about his life, said, “He’s doing well. He has medicines. He will live in Paris, and a little bit everywhere.”

The French government did not respond to requests for comment on whether he could face judicial challenges in France. Sobhraj was born in Vietnam during French rule and claims French citizenship.

He is believed to have killed at least 20 people in Afghanistan, India, Thailand, Turkey, Nepal, Iran and Hong Kong between 1972 and 1982.

But despite multiple legal cases against him, authorities across the region struggled to convict him for the killings — or to keep him behind bars.

He was arrested in New Delhi in 1976 and accused of murdering two tourists and stealing their jewelry. He was convicted of the theft but acquitted of murder. In Thailand, he faced 14 murder charges. He avoided being extradited by staying before the courts in India until the Thai case expired in 1996. In Thailand, he faced the death penalty.