Supreme Court (SC) of Nepal has ordered the release of French serial killer Charles Gurumukh Sobhraj after 19 years in jail on the ground of his age.
A writ of habeas corpus was filed in the Supreme Court saying that Sobhraj should also enjoy the leniency of exemption given to the senior citizens serving jail terms.
Hearing the writ, a joint bench of Justices Sapana Pradhan Malla and Til Prasad Shrestha issued the verdict to free Sobhraj and repatriate him to his country France. He has been serving a jail-term in the central prison in Sundhara since September 19, 2003.
On December 22, 2021, Sobhraj, 78, had filed a writ of habeas corpus seeking facility of exemption given to the senior citizens.
Senior Citizens Act, 2006 has a provision that allows 75 percent exemption of the imprisonment to those who have completed 75 years of age.
Sobhraj, a Frenchman of Indian and Vietnamese parentage, was charged with using a fake passport to enter Nepal and killing two backpackers in 1975, US citizen Connie Jo Boronzich, 29, and his girlfriend Canadian Laurent Carrière, 26.
On September 1, 2003, he was spotted outside a casino in Nepal, after a newspaper published his photograph. Following his arrest, the police filed two separate murder cases against him on charges of murdering the couple in 1975 in Kathmandu and Bhaktapur.
