Will French serial killer “The Serpent” be extradited to Thailand?

[snoop1130]

Getty Images

 

The French serial killer Charles Sobhraj is to be released from prison in Nepal, according to a Reuters report. Sobhraj, who was charged with a series of murders in Southeast Asia during the 1960 and 70s, was the subject of a Netflix drama called The Serpent last year.

 

Now the Supreme Court in Kathmandu, Nepal, has decided to release the convicted serial killer due to his old age. He had become known as “the serpent” because of his ability to use clever disguises after he escaped an Indian prison in the mid-1980s. He had been serving 21 years for murder. He was subsequently re-captured and jailed until 1997.

 

Following his release, he returned to France, but in 2003 was re-arrested at a casino in the Nepalese capital and charged with murdering American backpacker Connie Jo Bronzich. He has been incarcerated at a high-security prison in Kathmandu ever since.

 

Sobhraj also became known as the “bikini killer” after the bodies of several of his victims – young, Western women – were found on a Pattaya beach, still wearing their bikinis.

 

Sobhraj, now 78 years old, was accused of murdering more than 20 Western backpackers by drugging their food or drinks., mostly in Thailand.

 

The authorities in Thailand issued an arrest warrant for the French national in the mid-1970s after the Pattaya beach victims were found. He was sentenced to 20 years imprisonment and has completed 19 years of his sentence.

 

Sobhraj will take a flight out of Kathmandu only after top officials in Bangkok confirm there are no pending arrest warrants against the French serial killer in Thailand where he killed most of his victims.

 

Thailand’s Ministry of Justice will leave it to the Government to make a call if they wish to apply for extradition.

 

“If the Thailand government will issue a fresh warrant or drop the previous warrant.”

 

“We are aware that most of his murders were committed in Thailand.”

 

Meanwhile, Nepal will take Sobhraj out of the prison and keep him in isolation for 10 days to prepare his immigration papers to whichever country Sobhraj ends up being sent to.

 

Sobhraj has already indicated to his lawyers and journalists that he could “relocate to Dubai or even South Africa”. He has not made it clear if he would return to settle in France, his country of citizenship.

 

He has also asked his lawyers to start negotiations with publishers for a planned auto biography.

 

The child of an affair between an Indian businessman-tailor and one of his Vietnamese shop assistants, Sobhraj had grown up in Saigon during the Vietnamese war of independence from France.

 

Sobhraj was given a life sentence in 2004 for the killing of Connie Jo Bronzich, a 29 year old American, in 1975. He was convicted in 2014 of the 1975 murder of Laurent Carrière, a 26 year old Canadian.

 

Source: https://phuket-go.com/phuket-news/national-news/will-french-serial-killer-the-serpent-be-extradited-to-thailand/

 

-- © Copyright Phuket GO 2022-12-23

 

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[ukrules]

Don't you think the statute of limitations applies here?

[Geoffggi]

No government party here has the gonads to challenge this one - it may stop at their doorstep

 

[anchadian]

1 hour ago, ukrules said:

Don't you think the statute of limitations applies here?

Only applies to the Red Bull case.

[cheapcanuck]

Doesn't Thailand have a statues of limitations of 10 years for murder? 

[HuskerDo2]

Pure insanity. He killed 20 people and he's being let out because he's old. In-freakin-credible. Why is he even still alive? His crimes justify him being taken out of this world forever.

[proton]

Daily mail says on the way to France via Qatar air claims he's innocent

 

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11569149/Serial-killer-Serpent-seen-leaving-Nepalese-prison-early-release-good-behaviour.html

[Mr Meeseeks]

Another killer that easily escaped Thai 'justice'.

[Kerryd]

Thailand Statue of Limitations (Prescriptions):
"Twenty years in case of offences punishable with death, imprisonment for life or imprisonment of twenty years;"

As his offenses took place in the 70s, it's unlikely that Thailand will try to extradite him. And even if they did, France would probably deny the extradition due to his age and health and the fact he'd face the death penalty - even though it's highly unlikely they'd ever carry out the sentence. Death penalty sentences for foreigners are usually commuted to life sentences either at trial or upon the next "royal pardon".

 

[jossthaifarang]

Needs a bullet between the eyes.

[Mickboy]

Autobiography to make dollars and a rocking chair to watch the sunset and admire his own genius, methinks.

[Zack61]

I think if the crimes were reinvestigated it’s likely a couple of young Burmese men would be convicted. 
Best let it alone just in case. 
 

[Mywayboy]

13 hours ago, ukrules said:

Don't you think the statute of limitations applies here?

Certainly does he's off the hook for the Thailand murders sadly.

[PingRoundTheWorld]

50 minutes ago, Kerryd said:

France would probably deny the extradition

France never extradites it's own citizens. They may put them on trial in France, but not extradite. In this case the statue of limitations has long passed so no chance of that happening either, unfortunately.

It sounds like he's not planning on staying in France though. Dubai? South Africa? yikes.. at least he's not likely coming back to Thailand, lol...

[Zack61]

18 minutes ago, Mickboy said:

Autobiography to make dollars and a rocking chair to watch the sunset and admire his own genius, methinks.

Any money from his autobiography should be paid to his victims. 
Shame on any publisher who would consider any arrangement other than this. Let him rot in his old age. 

[sqwakvfr]

Serial killer Charles Sobhraj heads back to France after being freed following almost 20 years in a Nepali prison. "I have a lot of people to sue," he says

 

My guess is Netflix is on his list? I guess he has his priorities set in the right place.  

 

 

[Ralf001]

12 hours ago, anchadian said:

Only applies to the Red Bull case.

Need a tissue ?

[jaywalker]

8 hours ago, HuskerDo2 said:

Pure insanity. He killed 20 people and he's being let out because he's old. In-freakin-credible. Why is he even still alive? His crimes justify him being taken out of this world forever.

Should have been dragged to the nearest tree. Tall limbs, short rope

 

[Skeptic7]

8 hours ago, HuskerDo2 said:

Pure insanity. He killed 20 people and he's being let out because he's old. In-freakin-credible. Why is he even still alive? His crimes justify him being taken out of this world forever.

Absolutely. And a LONG time ago. 

[jacko45k]

Surely Nepal will deport him back to his 'home' country of France! Anyhow, has he not gone yet?

[Derek B]

14 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

The child of an affair between an Indian businessman-tailor and one of his Vietnamese shop assistants, Sobhraj had grown up in Saigon during the Vietnamese war of independence from France.

How does that make him a French national ?

 

[jacko45k]

4 minutes ago, Derek B said:

How does that make him a French national ?

 

Read a bit further in Wiki...

 Stateless at first,^[10] Sobhraj was taken in by his mother's new husband, a French Army lieutenant stationed in French Indochina.

[IslandLover]

3 minutes ago, Derek B said:

How does that make him a French national ?

 

His mother married a French soldier and relocated with Sobhraj to France.

[Colabamumbai]

Crossed his path in Goa, 70s. 

[jacko45k]

4 minutes ago, mackayae said:

The US has the ability to kidnap him and transport him to the US for prosecution for the murder of a US citizen. They recently did the same in Libya for the Pan Am bombing.

I don't expect they would be kidnapping people from France.. (Putin would !) They might make an extradition request, as could Thailand. 

[stratocaster]

From the book the Serpent.

Sobhraj's prison sentence in India was due to end before the 20-year Thai statute of limitations expired, ensuring his extradition and almost certain execution for murder in Thailand. So in March 1986, in his tenth year in prison, Sobhraj threw a big party for his guards and fellow inmates, drugged them with sleeping pills and walked out of the prison.  His prison sentence was extended by ten years, just as he had hoped. On 17 February 1997, 52-year-old Sobhraj was released with most warrants, evidence and even witnesses against him long lost. Without any country to extradite him to, Indian authorities let him return to France.

[4MyEgo]

On 12/23/2022 at 5:09 PM, snoop1130 said:

Sobhraj was given a life sentence in 2004 for the killing of Connie Jo Bronzich, a 29 year old American, in 1975. He was convicted in 2014 of the 1975 murder of Laurent Carrière, a 26 year old Canadian.

Yet they are releasing him because of his old age, <deleted>

 

On 12/23/2022 at 5:09 PM, snoop1130 said:

He has also asked his lawyers to start negotiations with publishers for a planned auto biography.

I hope some family member of one the deceased women stalks him and at the right moment, let true justice take it's course !

[Xonax]

He has already arrived in France. He was released in Nepal because he is in the urgent need of heart surgery, so it would be a costly affair, if Thailand was to get him extradited.

[oslooskar]

15 hours ago, ukrules said:

Don't you think the statute of limitations applies here?

Uncle Sam doesn't have a statute of limitations for murder, so it would be nice if he could grab this monster and dump his ass in the Supermax in Colorado.

[pomchop]

9 minutes ago, Xonax said:

He has already arrived in France. He was released in Nepal because he is in the urgent need of heart surgery, so it would be a costly affair, if Thailand was to get him extradited.

feel sorry for the gal sitting beside him ....doesn't look to happy to get the seat assignment from hell