JAKARTA – Charles Sobhraj, a convicted murderer who police say killed more than 20 Western backpackers on the “hippie trail” through Asia in the 1970s and 1980s, returns to French Saturday after nearly two decades behind bars in Nepal.

Nepal’s Supreme Court on Wednesday ordered the release of Sobhraj, known as the “bikini killer” in Thailand, and “The Serpent” for evading police, citing his advanced age and medical condition.

Citizen French Born to an Indian father and a Vietnamese mother, Sobhraj, 78, landed at Paris’ main international airport shortly after 7 a.m. and was escorted off the plane by police for security checks. ‘identify.

“He’s fine, he’s a free man,” Sobhraj’s lawyer, Isabelle Coutant-Peyre, told Reuters. When asked what his next steps would be, he replied, “He will take legal action against Nepal because the whole case against him is fabricated.”

Sobhraj has been held in a high-security prison in Nepal since 2003, when he was arrested for the murder of American backpacker Connie Jo Bronzich in 1975. He was later convicted of murdering Bronzich’s Canadian friend, Laurent Carriere, and served 19 years in prison. a 20-year sentence.

But he is suspected of several murders, including in Thailand, where police say they killed six women in the 1970s, some of whom were found dead on a beach near the resort town of Pattaya.

He was imprisoned in India for poisoning a group of tourists French in the capital, New Delhi, in 1976, before being tried on charges brought against him in Thailand.

Sobhraj told the news agency French AFP on the flight from Nepal that he is innocent of the murders of Bronzich and Carriere. “I have a lot to do. I have to sue a lot of people,” Sobhraj said.

Previous associates have described Sobhraj as a cheat, seducer, thief and murderer.

In 2021, the BBC and Netflix (NFLX.O) produced a drama series based on the story of Sobhraj’s alleged murder.

Ministry of Interior and Justice French did not respond to questions from Reuters about whether Sobhraj would face criminal charges at French. The statute of limitations for the most serious crimes in French is 20 years old.