The convicted murderer known as The Serpent has arrived in France after being released from prison on health grounds in Nepal.
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Charles Sobhraj, a convicted killer who police say is responsible for a string of murders in the 1970s and 1980s, was released from a Nepal prison on Friday after nearly two decades behind bars.
Otherwise known as 'The serpent' for his ability to evade the police, he arrived in Paris on Saturday morning, having spoken to journalists on the plane from Nepal.
Sobhraj told AFP: “I feel great . . . I have a lot to do. I have to sue a lot of people, including the state of Nepal.”
He has been held in a high-security prison in Nepal since 2003, when he was arrested on charges of murdering American backpacker Connie Jo Bronzich in 1975. He was later found guilty of killing Bronzich’s Canadian friend, Laurent Carriere.
It is thought that Sobhraj murdered at least 20 tourists in South and Southeast Asia, including 14 in Thailand, which he denies.
France's interior and justice ministers have not yet commented on whether Sobhraj will face criminal charges in France, where the statute of limitations for the most serious crimes is 20 years.