Celebrity and Re-capture
Sobhraj retired to a comfortable life in suburban Paris. He hired a publicity agent and charged large sums of money for interviews and photographs. He is said to have charged over $15 million (according to Advocate Bishwa Lal Shrestha who is Ex. Inspector and investigated the case, framed the charge sheet and registered the case in court) for the rights to a movie based on his life.
On September 17, 2003 Sobhraj was seen in a street of Kathmandu by a journalist. The journalist quickly reported this to the Nepalese authorities who arrested him two days later in the casino of the Yak and Yeti hotel. Sobhraj's motives for returning to Nepal remain unknown. He was sentenced to life imprisonment by the Kathmandu district court on August 20, 2004 for the 1975 murders of Bronzich and Carrière. Most of the photocopy evidence used against him in this case was drawn from that painstakingly gathered by Knippenberg (the Dutch embassy investigator) and Interpol.
Sobhraj appealed against the conviction, claiming that he was sentenced without trial. His lawyer also announced that Chantal, Sobhraj's wife in France, was filing a case before the European Court of Human Rights against the French government, for refusing to provide him with any assistance.
Sobhraj's conviction was confirmed by the Patan Court of Appeals in 2005.
Read more about this topic: Charles Sobhraj
Famous quotes containing the word celebrity:
“To become a celebrity is to become a brand name. There is Ivory Soap, Rice Krispies, and Philip Roth. Ivory is the soap that floats; Rice Krispies the breakfast cereal that goes snap-crackle-pop; Philip Roth the Jew who masturbates with a piece of liver.”
—Philip Roth (b. 1933)