Nepal to release serial killer Charles 'the Serpent' Sobhraj

Nepal's Supreme Court on Wednesday ordered the release of serial killer Charles Sobhraj, also known as "the Serpent," on account of his old age.

Sobhraj, 78, was associated with a string of backpacker murders across south Asia in the 1970s and 1980s. He was serving two life sentences in Nepal for the murders of an American and Canadian backpacker.

"He had already served 95% of his jail term and should have released earlier due to his age," Sobhraj's lawyer Ram Bandhu Sharma said.

"The court has ordered that if there is no other reason to keep him in jail, he should be released and sent back to his country within 15 days," the Supreme Court's spokesperson Bimal Paudel said.

Sobhraj would likely be freed from Kathmandu's Central Jail on Thursday, an official at the prison said.

The 'bikini killer' murder spree

Sobhraj, a French citizen, in the past admitted to killing several Western tourists and is linked to at least 20 murders in Afghanistan, India, Thailand, Turkey, Nepal, Iran, and Hong Kong.

He was also known as the "bikini killer" after Thailand issued a warrant for his arrest in the mid-1970s on charges of drugging and killing six women on a beach in Pattaya.

Sobhraj was, however, first caught by authorities in India, and, served more than two decades in jail from 1976. In 1986, he managed to briefly escape, but was rearrested and served out his sentence.

In 2003, he decided to return to Nepal, where was an outstanding arrest warrant waiting for him.  In 2004, he was sentenced to a life term for murdering American backpacker Connie Jo Bronzich in 1975. Several years later he was also found guilty of killing Bronzich's Canadian friend, Laurent Carriere.

Sobhraj's sobriquet, "the Serpent", came from his ability to assume other identities in order to evade justice.

His life has been the subject of several books and at least one movie. Last year, the BBC and Netflix jointly produced a series, "The Serpent," dramatizing his crimes.