Nepal court upholds French serial killer's conviction for killing American backpacker
KATMANDU, Nepal - Nepal's Supreme Court upheld a conviction of a French serial killer nicknamed "The Serpent" who was found guilty of killing an American tourist in Kathmandu more than three decades ago.
Charles Sobhraj, 66 — who for decades evaded charges of drugging, robbing and killing tourists — has admitted to murdering several Western travellers, and was linked to the deaths of at least 20 people in Afghanistan, India, Thailand, Turkey, Nepal, Iran and Hong Kong during the 1970s.
Sobhraj was convicted in 2004 by a Kathmandu court for killing American backpacker Connie Jo Bronzich in 1975.
Supreme Court Judges Ram Kumar Prasad Shah and Gauri Dhakal on Friday upheld the 2004 conviction. The verdict is the final decision in the case, and Sobhraj will serve his life sentence in Nepal, said Supreme Court spokesman Hemanta Rawal.
The Frenchman has repeatedly insisted the lower court did not have enough evidence to find him guilty.
Sobhraj was arrested at a luxury casino in Kathmandu when he returned to Nepal in 2003 after serving two decades in a maximum security prison in India for theft.
Sobhraj — whose nickname stems from his reputation for being a talented disguise and escape artist — was deported in 1997 to France after serving 21 years' jail in India.
