Prototype of the main character of the film "Serpent"serial killer, on his way to France after 20 years in prison in Nepal

Serial killer Charles Sobraj has been released early from a Nepalese prison due to health reasons and is returning to France.

Sobraj served almost 20 years in prison and still claims to be innocent. On Wednesday, he was released by court order due to an upcoming heart operation. On a plane that flew to France via Doha, the ex-prisoner told AFP that he was innocent and planned to “sue a lot of people”:

“I feel great, I am looking for a job. I will sue many people, including the state of Nepal.”

The prosecution alleged that in the 1970s in Asia, Sobraj could have killed 20 people – tourists traveling along the so-called “hippie trail”. It is believed that to his victims, mostly tourists, he presented himself as a drug dealer or jewelry dealer.

Nicknamed “The Serpent”, Sobraj served two maximum sentences of 20 years for the murder of two North American tourists. The murders of at least 20 people in the countries of Southeast Asia, India, Turkey, Iran and Hong Kong are associated with him, but only Kathmandu could find him guilty.

BBC and Netflix filmed a joint series called “Reptile” (“Serpent”), which is based on the alleged crimes of Sobraj.

The French Foreign Ministry said earlier that it would accept the 78-year-old killer if there was official notice of deportation.

Reference. The Hippie Trail is the name given to a network of land roads for travel by the hippie subculture and imitative hippie style from the mid-1960s to the late 1970s between Europe and South Asia, primarily to Pakistan, India, and Nepal.