Appeals Court Rejects Sobhraj Plea

[Highwayman]

KATHMANDU: Notorious French serial killer Charles Sobhraj, jailed in Nepal for the murder of an American woman, yesterday lost his appeal against the conviction.

The Kathmandu District Court last August sentenced the 60-year-old French national, who preyed on Western tourists in Asia in the 1970s, to 20 years in jail after convicting him of the 1975 murder of the backpacker.

The Appellate Court upheld the verdict of the Kathmandu District Court after a five hour hearing, Sobhraj's lawyer Sanjiv Ghimire said.

Sobhraj, dubbed "The Serpent" for his audacious escapes from the law, described the ruling as "shocking." "I am going to move the apex (Supreme) court against the verdict after discussing the matter with my lawyer," Sobhraj, sporting a cream-coloured polo cap, a white shirt and a blue coat, told reporters in court.

Police had said a key factor in the conviction was an analysis of signatures under the name of Henricus Bintanja, whose Dutch passport Sobhraj allegedly used to enter and leave Nepal in 1975.

Bintanja and his fiancee Cornelia Hemker were strangled that year and their burned bodies were found in a ditch outside Bangkok.

"The airport disembarkation card and hotel registration from 1975, both made under the Dutch name, were kept as part of the investigation. The signature matched the handwriting of Sobhraj's French passport," a police investigator said after the conviction.

Sobhraj, reputed to be a compulsive gambler, was arrested in the all-night casino of Kathmandu's five-star Yak and Yeti Hotel in September 2003. Sobhraj has already spent 20 years in jail in India.

Gulf Daily News

[jomama]

This subject came up not long ago when a newspaer said Thailand's "first" serial killer was apprehended down south after killing three (?) prostitutes. Actually there's See Ojue (sp?), a cannibal, and this fellow Sobhraj. Here's a list of his activities in Thailand back in the '70s:

- Jennifer Bolliver, of Cabrillo beach, California, who was found washed ashore at Pattaya with sand and salt water in her lungs as if forcibly drowned, according to a Thai pathologist.

- A French woman, Charmayne Carrou, who was also found dead on Pattaya beach, after being strangled so hard her neck bones had broken.

Both women were clad in bathing suits, inspiring the Thai media at the time to dub the culprit, "the bikini killer".

- Ms Carrou's Turkish boyfriend, Vitali Hakim, whose body was discovered in Pattaya after he was apparently burned alive.

- A Dutch couple, Henricus Beintaja and his fiance Cornelia "Cocky" Hemker, whose bodies were found beaten, strangled and burned in a ditch 60km from Bangkok.

Interpol and Thai police suspected Sobhraj, using the alias Alain Guathier, lured his victims to their death by offering to sell them gems from his Bangkok apartment on soi Sala Daeng.

Mr Sobhraj was also wanted in Thailand on charges of attempting to murder Russell Lapthorne and his wife Vera in 1975, after repeatedly drugging the Melbourne couple and stealing more than $2,000 worth of belongings. They survived.

In 1976, when Thai police brought Sobhraj in for questioning, the experienced escape artist walked free when police looked the other way.

[Kerryd]

I read a couple of other stories about this guy. He was arrested in India and eventually given a 10 years sentence. Just before the sentence was up, he organized a prison break with 4 other inmates.

He was caught and given another 10 year sentence. Why did he escape when his sentence was almost up anyways ? Well, he was still wanted in Thailand, and was worried he would be extradited and face the death penalty.

Quote from the BBC:

Sobhraj, 60, is also believed to have escaped from prisons in Afghanistan, Greece, Iran and India.

So extraordinary has been his life of crime that after being released from jail in India - where he served a 20 year sentence for poisoning a busload of French tourists - the film and book rights were reportedly sold to a French actor-producer for $15m.

Critics say that he deliberately escaped towards the end of his 10 year jail term in order to be re-captured and face new charges for his escape.

That way he could avoid extradition to Thailand where he was wanted for five murders and would almost certainly be given the death penalty.

By the time of his release in 1997, the 20 year time-frame for him to be tried in Bangkok had lapsed.

So, instead of him paying for his crimes, he gets paid 15 million !

And people wonder what is wrong with this world

[jomama]

I vaguely remeber something about him and the (in)famous Malaysia Hotel in BKK...anyone know more, to do I have my wires crossed?

[sriracha john]

UPDATE

Charles Sobhraj in 2005

"Bikini Killer" Sobhraj wants to return to France

NEW DELHI - "Bikini Killer" Charles Sobhraj has said he plans to return to France if Nepal's Supreme Court strikes down his life sentence for killing an American backpacker more than 30 years ago in a verdict expected next month.

The French national, who has been accused by police in a number of Asian countries of killing more than 20 western travellers, has been in a Kathmandu jail since he was arrested about four years ago as he gambled in a local casino.

He said at the time he was in Nepal to film a documentary for a TV company.

Nepal's Supreme Court has finished hearing his appeal against his sentence and a verdict is expected in December.

"I will go back to France of course, immediately," Sobhraj, who is in his early 60s, told India's Times Now TV channel in an interview broadcast on Wednesday.

However, Sobhraj, born to an Indian father and Vietnamese mother, said he would love to visit India where he has already spent 20 years in jail for a string of crimes, including murder and robbery.

"I love India. Still I have three of my sisters there, my heart lies there," he said in the interview conducted when jail authorities took him to a dentist at a Kathmandu hospital.

Sobhraj has denied killing the American woman, whose body was found in a wheat field near the Nepali capital. His lawyers say the charge against him was based on assumption.

"There is no proof against him," Basanta Ram Bhadari, one of his lawyers, told Reuters.

Sobhraj, also known as the "Serpent", is said to be a master of disguise and escape, whose exploits across Asia have spawned two books and a movie.

He had been living in France after being released from an Indian jail in 1997.

He is accused of killing young Western backpackers across Asia, usually after drugging their food or drink, during the 1970s and '80s.

In 1975, Thailand issued a warrant for his arrest on charges of drugging and killing six women, all wearing bikinis, on a beach at Pattaya.

But he was jailed in India before he could stand trial on those charges.

Asked if he was nervous ahead of the verdict or if he trusted Nepal's justice system, Sobhraj replied: "Let's say we'll discuss about that later on. Not now.

"Well in Nepal, you cannot believe anything. What will happen, I believe."

- Reuters

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Additional background information on Charles Sobhraj:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Sobhraj

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Charles Sobhraj today

The Sobhraj interview

Charles Sobhraj speaks to TIMES NOW in Kathmandu

For the first time in television history the man known as the 'Serpent' speaks has spoken exclusively to TIMES NOW. Charles Gurmukh Sobhraj, charged with over 30 murders, said that he was confident he would get out of the Nepalese jail. Here is the 'Bikini killer' on his dark past and rather uncertain future.

In the exclusive conversation with Afreen Kidwai in Kathamandu, Sobhraj was the picture of confidence. Here is the transcript of his on-camera as well 'off-camera' replies.

The Interview

Afreen: How confident are you that the verdict will go in your favour?

On Camera: I am confident, I believe that the Supreme Court will give justice.

Off Camera: I am innocent, if I wasn't why should I have come back to Nepal?

Afreen: What are you plans if you are acquitted, what will you do?

On Camera: Go back to France of course, immediately.

Off Camera: I was ready to leave Kathmandu as soon as the verdict was delivered.

Afreen: Are you in touch with your family?

On Camera: Yes, yes.

Off Camera: I speak to my wife every week, I am in touch with my daughter via e-mail.

Afreen: What is your India connection now? Do you intend to come back to India?

On Camera: After some time yes, because I love India. My three sisters are in India. My heart lies there.

Off Camera: I definitely will return, I respect the Indian judiciary.

Afreen: How do you keep yourself busy these days?

On Camera: I was writing and all that but not at the moment. I am just waiting to get out.

Off camera: I exercise everyday. Can't you see I am fit?

Afreen: Are you nervous, or worried about the verdict?

On Camera: Well in Nepal, you cannot believe anything until it happens. It is well known, I believe.

Off Camera: I was tricked because I made the mistake of not knowing the Nepalese law.

Afreen: Do you trust the Nepalese system of justice?

On Camera: We will discuss about that later on.

Off Camera: I don't want to waste time on a judicial review, I will approach the UN Human Rights Commission.

In this rare and exclusive interview to TIMES NOW Charles Sobhraj manages to charm the camera - his soft-spokenness a camouflage for the master manipulator he really is. Afreen Kidwai reported after the interview that Sobhraj appeared to have kept himself abreast of not only all the twists and turns of his case - he had extensive general knowlege about current events in India and around the world, was regularly in touch with friends and family and said he used to spend the maxiumum amount of time on the Internet in prison in Nepal.

"All along he has fought his case carefully, and made use of every loophole he could find in the book. He is confident he cannot be convicted because the facts currently go in his favour. First of all, Sobhraj says he was not in the country when the murders happened in 1975, and the Nepalese police said they used a confession he made to the Indian police - which he denies," Kidwai told TIMES NOW.

The two Nepal Supreme Court judges who will be pronouncing the verdict are widely believed to be very impartial and Sobhraj is hopeful they will keep the facts in mind.

- Times Now (India)

[Chloe82]

There was a program on the National Geographic channel about him, 'interpol investigates'.

[thaipete]

He used to live in an apartment building just off off Silom in BKK, he killed a few there on jewelry scams, it is a shame he is a Nepal gaol and not a Thai one in Kathmandu the gaols are easy not too much torture of inmates hopefully he will never be freed

[Naam]

i am very happy that Sobhraj is far away. if he were in Thailand i'd be scared sh*tless

[sriracha john]

More on the Thailand connection to Sobhraj...

Sobhraj battles shadowy adversary for freedom

Kathmandu - With a fresh countdown starting for Dec 19 when Nepal's Supreme Court is expected to give its final verdict in a murder case that put Charles Sobhraj -- the crime genius of the 1970s pursued by the Interpol and media alike -- behind bars, it is not only the 63-year-old who is holding his breath.

A shadowy adversary who had been trying to pin him down for three decades is also anxious about the verdict, hoping the life sentence Sobhraj received in Kathmandu's district court for the murder of an American backpacker in 1975 would stick.

When Sobhraj, who hit the headlines worldwide in the 1970s with a string of cases involving robbing Western tourists, was sighted in Kathmandu in 2003, the past he had hoped to leave behind him was resurrected.

He was arrested for the murder of Connie Jo Bronzich in 1975 and the media trained its flashlights on him once again, digging up his past exploits as well as the characters that had played a key role in the 1975 drama.

However, the man who had been stalking him since the 70s and had a major contribution in his conviction has not been connected by anyone with the case --except Sobhraj.

'I think it is an ego problem with him,' Sobhraj says, talking about Herman Knippenberg, a retired Dutch diplomat who was in service in Bangkok in the 70s when two Dutch tourists were found murdered in the Thai capital.

Knippenberg was put on the trail of Sobhraj when a letter from Amsterdam arrived at the Dutch Embassy in Bangkok in 1976. The writer said his sister-in-law, Cornelia Hemker, and her boyfriend, Henricus Bintanja, who had planned to visit Thailand during their journey through Asia, had not contacted their families for six weeks, causing anxiety.

Although Bintanja was found murdered in Bangkok, someone used his passport to travel to Nepal and check into a hotel.

Nepal Police say Sobhraj came to Kathmandu using Bintanja's passport, made friends with Bronzich and her Canadian companion, Laurent Armand Carriere, and killed both.

Sobhraj denies the charge, saying he never came to Nepal before 2003.

When Kathmandu's district court found him guilty in 2004, the verdict was based partly on what police say is a confession Sobhraj made during an earlier arrest in India.

Indo-Asian News Service

[sriracha john]

UPDATE... he's getting married...

The bride-to-be Nihita Biswas

International Serial Killer Charles Sobhraj, 64, Engaged to Woman, 20

KATMANDU, Nepal — Confessed French serial killer Charles Sobhraj, who was convicted and sentenced to life in prison in Nepal, is engaged and plans to marry a woman 44 years younger than he is.

Both Sobhraj, 64, and his 20-year-old Nepalese fiance, Nihita Biswas, said they are planning to get married if he is freed by Nepal's Supreme Court.

Sobhraj was convicted by a Katmandu district court in 2004 on charges of killing a Canadian tourist in Katmandu in 1975. He was arrested at a luxury Katmandu casino when he returned to Nepal in 2003.

He has filed an appeal to the Supreme Court and a decision is expected in the next few days.

"We are planning a future after his release. We know he is going to be released soon. We are going to be married under French law in France," Biswas told reporters in Katmandu on Saturday. She said their large age gap did not matter. "I am mature enough to decide for myself," she said. "Age does not make a difference."

The two met two and half months ago when she went to apply for a job as interpreter for his French lawyer, she said. Biswas said she was certain the Supreme Court would free Sobhraj because of a lack of evidence against him.

Sobhraj's lawyers and jail officials said they only found out about the engagement after reading about it in local newspapers.

Sobhraj's chief lawyer earlier said their appeal to the Supreme Court claims a lack of strong evidence and incomplete court procedures.

The Frenchman has in the past admitted killing several Western tourists, and he is believed to have murdered at least 20 people in Afghanistan, India, Thailand, Turkey, Nepal, Iran and Hong Kong during the 1970s. However, his 2004 conviction in Nepal was the first time he was found guilty in court.

Sobhraj was held for two decades in New Delhi's maximum-security Tihar prison on suspicion of theft, but was deported without charge to France in 1997. He resurfaced in September 2003 in Katmandu.

His nickname "The Serpent" stems from his reputation for being a talented disguise and escape artist.

- Associated Press / 05-07-08

[Tony Clifton]

I saw this babe on tv this evening. <deleted>?

This story horrified me as a child and I never forgot it as Sobrahj had taken along Marie Andree Leclerc, a young woman from my province. May he rot in jail