NationMaster - Encyclopedia: Charles Sobhraj

Charles Sobhraj (born April 6, 1944 in Saigon, Vietnam) is a French serial killer of Indian and Vietnamese origin, who preyed on Western tourists throughout Southeast Asia during the 1970s. Nicknamed "the Serpent" and "the Bikini killer" for his skills at deception and evasion, he allegedly committed at least 12 murders and was jailed in India from 1976 to 1997, but managed to live a life of leisure in prison. He retired as a celebrity in Paris, then unexpectedly returned to Nepal, where he was arrested and sentenced to life imprisonment on August 12, 2004. Charles Sobhraj in France, sometime between 1997 and 2003. ... is the 96th day of the year (97th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1944 (MCMXLIV) was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnamese: ThÃ nh ChÃ Minh) is the largest city in Vietnam, located near the delta of the Mekong River. ... Serial killers are individuals who have a history of multiple slayings of victims who were usually unknown to them beforehand. ... A tourist boat travels the River Seine in Paris, France Tourism can be defined as the act of travel for the purpose of recreation, and the provision of services for this act. ... Location of Southeast Asia Southeast Asia is a subregion of Asia. ... The 1970s decade refers to the years from 1970 to 1979, also called The Seventies. ... Year 1976 Pick up sticks(MCMLXXVI) was a leap year starting on Thursday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... For the band, see 1997 (band). ... Retirement is the status of a worker who has stopped working. ... For other uses, see Celebrity (disambiguation). ... This article is about the capital of France. ... Life imprisonment is a sentence of imprisonment for a serious crime, nominally for the entire remaining life of the prisoner, but in fact for a period which varies between jurisdictions: many countries have a maximum possible period of time (usually 50 years) a prisoner may be incarcerated, or require the... Year 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

While Sobhraj is widely believed to be a psychopath — he has a manipulative personality and is incapable of remorse — his motives for killing differed from those of most serial killers. Sobhraj was not driven to murder by deep-seated, violent impulses, but rather for personal gain, as a means among many to sustain his lifestyle of adventure. That lifestyle, as well as his cunning and cultured personality, made him a celebrity long before his release from prison. Sobhraj immensely enjoyed the attention, charging large amounts of money for interviews and film rights; his life has already been the object of four books and three documentaries. This search for attention and overconfidence in his own intelligence, are named as causes of his unexpected return to one of the few places on Earth where authorities were still willing and able to arrest him, and subsequent downfall. See Also: Antisocial Personality Disorder Theoretically, psychopathy is a three-faceted disorder involving interpersonal, affective and behavioral characteristics. ... People feel remorse when reflecting on their actions that they believe are wrong. ... Documentary film is a broad category of visual expression that is based on the attempt, in one fashion or another, to document reality. ...

Early years

Sobhraj was born Gurmukh Sobhraj in Saigon to an unwed Vietnamese mother and an Indian (Sindhi) father who soon deserted the family, for which the mother blamed the child. Stateless at first,^[1] he was then adopted by his mother's new boyfriend, a French lieutenant stationed in Indochina, but was not given as much attention as the couple's later children. Moving back and forth between France and Indochina with his family, feeling at home in neither place, Sobhraj developed discipline and personality problems growing up and soon turned to petty crime as a teenager. Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnamese: ThÃ nh ChÃ Minh) is the largest city in Vietnam, located near the delta of the Mekong River. ... Sindhis (à¤¸à¤¿à¤¨à¥à¤§à¥€, Ø³Ù†ÚŒÙŠ) are an Indo-Aryan language speaking socio-ethnic group of people originating in Sindh which is part of present day Pakistan. ... The term stateless can mean more than one thing: In law, a stateless person is a person without a state, in other words someone who is not a citizen or subject of any state. ... Flag Capital Hanoi Language(s) French Political structure Federation Historical era New Imperialism - Addition of Laos 1893, 1887 - Vietnamese Declaration of Independence September 2, 1945 - Independence of Laos July 19, 1949 - Independence of Cambodia November 9, 1953 - Recognized Independence of Vietnam 1954, 1954 Area - 1945 750,000 kmÂ² Currency French... Indochina 1886 Indochina, or the Indochinese Peninsula, is a region in Southeast Asia. ...

Sobhraj got his first jail sentence (for burglary) in 1963 at Poissy prison near Paris. He weathered the harsh detention conditions using a combination of self-defense and manipulation. The latter earned him special favors from prison officials, such as keeping books in his cell, and endeared him to visitor Felix d'Escogne. Year 1963 (MCMLXIII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Poissy is a commune of the Yvelines département in France, located 20km from Paris, with a population (1999) of 36,000. ... This article is about the capital of France. ...

When paroled, Sobhraj moved in with d'Escogne and shared his time between the high society of Paris and the criminal underworld. He started to accumulate money through a series of scams and burglaries, and began a relationship with Chantal, a woman from a conservative Parisian family. He was arrested for evading police in a stolen car on the very night he proposed to her, and sent back to Poissy for eight months, while a supportive Chantal waited for him. It has been suggested that Medical parole be merged into this article or section. ... Ths article deals with conservatism as a political philosophy. ...

Sobhraj and Chantal were married upon his release. Soon after, facing mounting suspicions by French authorities, he and a now pregnant Chantal left France for Asia to escape arrest. Traveling through Eastern Europe using fake documents and robbing people who befriended them, they arrived around 1970 in Bombay, where Chantal gave birth to a baby girl. A pregnant woman Pregnancy is the process by which a mammalian female carries a live offspring from conception until it develops to the point where the offspring is capable of living outside the womb. ... Pre-1989 division between the West (grey) and Eastern Bloc (orange) superimposed on current national boundaries: Russia (dark orange), other countries of the former USSR (medium orange),members of the Warsaw pact (light orange), and other former Communist regimes not aligned with Moscow (lightest orange). ... Year 1970 ([[Rf 1970 == January 1 - The Unix epoch begins at 00:00:00 UTC January 2 - The last studio performance of The Beatles oman numerals|MCMLXX]]) was a common year starting on Thursday (link shows full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... This article or section should be merged with Mumbai Mumbai (previously known as Bombay) is the worlds most populous conurbation, and is the sixth most populous agglomeration in the world. ...

The couple made a good impression on the expatriate community in India, while Sobhraj resumed his criminal lifestyle by running a car theft and smuggling operation, the profits of which were plowed into his growing gambling addiction. A botched armed robbery at a jewelry store in Hotel Ashoka in 1973 led to his arrest and imprisonment. Faking illness, he escaped with Chantal's help, but both were captured shortly after. Borrowing money from his father in Saigon to bail them out, they fled India for Afghanistan. This article does not cite any references or sources. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Caravaggio, The Cardsharps, c. ... For the song by James Blunt, see 1973 (song). ... The word bail as a legal term means: Security, usually a sum of money, exchanged for the release of an arrested person as a guarantee of that persons appearance for trial. ...

In Kabul, the couple resumed their habit of robbing tourists following the "hippie trail." Arrested once again, Sobhraj escaped in a similar manner as in India, pretending illness and drugging the hospital guard, then fleeing to Iran, leaving his family behind. Chantal, although still loyal to him, wanted to leave their criminal past behind, and returned to France, vowing to never see him again. For other places with the same name, see Kabul (disambiguation). ... The hippie trail is a term used to describe the journeys taken by hippies in the 1960s and 70s from Europe, overland to and from eastern Asia. ...

Sobhraj spent the next two years on the run, using as many as 10 stolen passports and visiting several countries in East Europe and the Middle East. He was joined in Istanbul by his younger brother André, who quickly became a pawn in many crimes in Turkey and Greece; both were eventually arrested in Athens. After an identity-switch plan gone awry, Sobhraj escaped in his usual manner, leaving his brother to serve an 18-year sentence after being turned over to the Turkish police by Greek authorities. Identity theft is a term first appearing in U.S. literature in the 1990s, leading to the drafting of the Identity Theft and Assumption Deterrence Act. ... A map showing countries commonly considered to be part of the Middle East The Middle East is a region comprising the lands around the southern and eastern parts of the Mediterranean Sea, a territory that extends from the eastern Mediterranean Sea to the Persian Gulf. ... Istanbul (Turkish: , Greek: , historically Byzantium and later Constantinople; see other names) is Turkeys most populous city, and its cultural and financial center. ... This article is about the capital of Greece. ...

Murders

On the run again, Sobhraj financed his lifestyle by posing as a mysterious drug dealer to impress tourists and defrauding them when they let their guard down. In Thailand, he met Marie-Andrée Leclerc from Lévis, Quebec, one of many tourists looking for adventure in the East. Subjugated by Sobhraj's personality, Leclerc quickly became his most devoted follower, turning a blind eye to his crimes and philandering with local women. In the broadest sense, a fraud is a deception made for personal gain. ... Coordinates: Country Canada Province QuÃ©bec Established January 1, 2002 Government - Mayor Danielle Roy-Marinelli - Governing body LÃ©vis City Council - MPs Steven Blaney, Jacques Gourde - MNAs Christian LÃ©vesque, Marc Picard Area - City 334. ...

Sobhraj started gathering followers by helping them out of difficult situations, indebting them to him while he actually was the very cause of their misery. In one case, he helped two former French policemen, named Yannick and Jacques, to recover their passports that he himself had stolen; in another, he provided shelter and comfort to another Frenchman named Dominique Rennelleau, whose apparent dysentery illness was actually the results of poisoning by Sobhraj. He was also joined by a young Indian named Ajay Chowdhury, a fellow criminal who became his lieutenant. Sobhraj wanted to start a criminal "family" of sorts, in the style of Charles Manson's. Dysentery (formerly known as flux or the bloody flux) is frequent, small-volume, severe diarrhea that shows blood in the feces along with intestinal cramping and tenesmus (painful straining to pass stool). ... For biological toxicity, see toxin and poison. ... Charles Milles Manson (born November 12, 1934) is a career criminal who led the Manson Family, a commune or cult that began to form around him in the U.S. city of San Francisco in 1967. ...

It was then that Sobhraj and Chowdhury committed their first (known) murders in 1975. Most of the victims had spent some time with the "clan" before their deaths and were, according to some investigators, potential recruits who had threatened to expose Sobhraj. The first victim was a young woman from Seattle, Teresa Knowlton, who was found burned like many of Sobhraj's other victims. Soon thereafter, a young American Jennie Bollivar, was found drowned in a tidal pool in the Gulf of Thailand, wearing a flowered bikini. It was only months later that the autopsy and forensic evidence revealed the drowning to be murder. Year 1975 (MCMLXXV) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Gulf of Thailand is a gulf located in the South China Sea (Pacific Ocean), surrounded by the countries Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. ... This article is about the womens bathing suit. ... Post-mortem, postmortem and post mortem redirect here. ... Forensics redirects here. ...

The next victim was a young, nomadic Sephardic Jew named Vitali Hakim, whose burned body was found on the road to the Pattaya resort where Sobhraj and his clan were staying. In the strictest sense, a Sephardi (ספרדי, Standard Hebrew Səfardi, Tiberian Hebrew Səp̄ardî; plural Sephardim: ספרדים, Standard Hebrew Səfardim, Tiberian Hebrew Səp̄ardîm) is a Jew original to the... Beach Pattaya along the beach Pattaya (Thai: , RTGS: Phatthaya) is a city in Thailand, located on the east coast of the Gulf of Thailand ( ), about 165 km southeast of Bangkok in the province of Chon Buri. ...

Dutch students Henk Bintanja, 29, and his fiancée Cornelia Hemker, 25, were invited to Thailand after meeting Sobhraj in Hong Kong. Just as he had done to Dominique, Sobhraj poisoned them, and then nurtured them back to health to gain their obedience. As they recovered, Sobhraj was visited by his previous victim Hakim's French girlfriend, Charmayne Carrou, coming to investigate her boyfriend's disappearance. Fearing exposure, Sobhraj and Chowdhury quickly hustled the couple out; their bodies were found strangled and burned on December 16, 1975. Soon after, Carrou was found drowned in circumstances similar to Jennie's, and wearing a similar-styled swimsuit. Although the murders of both women were not connected by investigations at the time, they would later earn Sobhraj the nickname of "the bikini killer." Asphyxia is a condition of severely deficient supply of oxygen to the body. ... Year 1975 (MCMLXXV) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ...

On December 18, the day the bodies of Bintanja and Hemker were identified, Sobhraj and Leclerc entered Nepal using the couple's passports. There they met and, on December 21-22, murdered Canadian Laurent Ormond Carrière, 26 and Californian Connie Bronzich, 29. (The two victims were incorrectly identified in some sources as Laddie DuParr and Annabella Tremont.) Sobhraj and Leclerc then returned to Thailand, once again using their latest victims' passport before their bodies could be identified.

Upon his return to Thailand, Sobhraj discovered that his three French companions had started to suspect him, found documents belonging to the murder victims, and fled to Paris after notifying local authorities.

Sobhraj then went to Calcutta, where he murdered Israeli scholar Avoni Jacob for his passport, and used it to move to Singapore with Leclerc and Chowdhury, then to India and - rather boldly - back to Bangkok in March 1976. There they were interrogated by Thai policemen in connection with the murders, but easily let off the hook because authorities feared that the negative publicity accompanying a murder trial would harm the country's tourist trade. This article is on Calcutta/Kolkata, the city. ... Year 1976 Pick up sticks(MCMLXXVI) was a leap year starting on Thursday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Wikibooks has more about this subject: Marketing Look up publicity in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

Not so easily silenced, however, was Dutch embassy diplomat Herman Knippenberg, who was investigating the murder of the two Dutch backpackers, and suspected Sobhraj even though he did not know his real name. Knippenberg started to build a case against him, partly with the help of Sobhraj's neighbour. Given police permission to conduct his own search of Sobhraj's apartment (a full month after the suspect had left the country), Knippenberg found a great deal of evidence, such as victims' documents and poison-laced medicines. He would from then on accumulate evidence against Sobhraj for decades, despite the lack of cooperation by law enforcement. This article does not cite any references or sources. ... For the band, see The Police. ...

The trio's next stop was in Malaysia, where Chowdhury was sent on a gem-stealing errand, and disappeared after giving the jewels to Sobhraj. No trace of him was ever found, and it is widely believed that Sobhraj murdered his former accomplice before leaving with Leclerc to sell the jewels in Geneva. Geneva (pronunciation //; French: GenÃ¨ve //, German: //, Italian: Ginevra //, Romansh: Genevra) is the second most populous city in Switzerland (after ZÃ¼rich), and is the most populous city of Romandy (the French-speaking part of Switzerland). ...

Soon back in Asia, Sobhraj started rebuilding his clan, starting in Bombay with two lost Western women named Barbara Sheryl Smith and Mary Ellen Eather. His next victim was Frenchman Jean-Luc Solomon, who succumbed to the poison intended to incapacitate him during a robbery. This article or section should be merged with Mumbai Mumbai (previously known as Bombay) is the worlds most populous conurbation, and is the sixth most populous agglomeration in the world. ...

In July 1976 in New Delhi, Sobhraj and the three women tricked a tour group of post-graduate French students into accepting them as guides. He then drugged them with pills which he pretended were anti-dysentery medicine. However, when the drugs started acting too quickly and the students started dropping unconscious where they stood, three of them quickly realized what was happening and overcame Sobhraj, leading to his capture by police. During interrogation, Barbara and Mary Ellen quickly cracked and confessed everything. Sobhraj was charged with the murder of Solomon, and all four were sent to Tihar prison outside New Delhi while awaiting formal trial. This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Year 1976 Pick up sticks(MCMLXXVI) was a leap year starting on Thursday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... , This article is about the urban region that is the capital of India. ... Tihar Jail, also called Tihar Prisons, the largest complex of prisons of South East Asia, is located in the western part of Delhi, India. ... , This article is about the urban region that is the capital of India. ...

Prison time

Conditions inside the notorious prison were unbearable, & both Barbara and Mary Ellen attempted suicide during the two years before their trial. Sobhraj, however, had entered with precious gems concealed in his body and was experienced in bribing captors and living comfortably in jail. For other uses, see Suicide (disambiguation). ... Bribery is a crime implying a sum or gift given alters the behaviour of the person in ways not consistent with the duties of that person. ...

Sobhraj turned his trial into a show, hiring and firing lawyers at whim, bringing in his recently-paroled and still-loyal brother André to help, and eventually going on a hunger strike. He was nonetheless sentenced to 12 years in prison instead of the expected death penalty, having possibly bribed court officials. Leclerc was found guilty of the drugging of the French students, then later paroled and returned to Canada when she developed ovarian cancer. She was still claiming her innocence, and reportedly still loyal to Sobhraj, when she died at home in April 1984. A hunger strike is a method of non-violent resistance in which participants fast as an act of political protest, or to provoke feelings of guilt or to achieve a goal such as a policy change. ... Capital punishment, or the death penalty, is the execution of a convicted criminal by the state as punishment for crimes known as capital crimes or capital offences. ... Bribery is a crime implying a sum or gift given alters the behaviour of the person in ways not consistent with the duties of that person. ... It has been suggested that Medical parole be merged into this article or section. ... Ovarian cancer is a malignant tumor (a kind of neoplasm) located on an ovary. ... 1984 is a leap year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Sobhraj's systematic bribery of prison guards at Tihar reached outrageous levels. He led a life of luxury inside the jail, with TV, cell phones and gourmet food, having befriended both the guards and the prisoners. He would walk in and out of jail whenever he wanted. Revelling in his notoriety, he gave interviews to Western authors and journalists, such as OZ magazine's Richard Neville in the late 1970s, and Alan Dawson in 1984. He freely talked about his murders, while never actually admitting to them, and pretended that his actions were in retaliation against Western imperialism in Asia, an excuse which most criminologists find highly doubtful. Oz Number 3 Oz was a satirical humour magazine first published between 1963–69 in Sydney, Australia and, in its second and more famous incarnation, from 1967 to 1973 in London, England. ... Richard Neville can be: Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick, also known as Warwick the Kingmaker, a English noble who fought in the Wars of the Roses. ... The 1970s decade refers to the years from 1970 to 1979, also called The Seventies. ... Cecil Rhodes: Cape-Cairo railway project. ... Criminology is the scientific study of crime as an individual and social phenomenon. ...

He also needed to find a way to prolong his sentence, since the 20-year Thai arrest warrant against him would still be valid on his intended release date, leading to his deportation and almost certain execution. So in March 1986, on his tenth year in prison, he threw a big party for his prisoner and guard friends and, having drugged them with sleeping pills, walked out of the jail. In law, a warrant can mean any authorization. ... Deportation is the expelling of someone from a country. ... 1986 (MCMLXXXVI) is a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Sobhraj was quickly caught in Goa and had his prison term prolonged by 10 years, just as he had hoped. On February 17, 1997, 52-year old Sobhraj was released, with most warrants, evidence and even witnesses against him long lost. Without any country to deport him to, Indian authorities let him return to France. For other uses, see Goa (disambiguation). ... is the 48th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... For the band, see 1997 (band). ...

Celebrity and re-capture

Sobhraj then lived in the suburbs of Paris, enjoying a comfortable retirement. He hired an agent and charged thousands of dollars for interviews and photographs, and upwards of $15 million for a movie deal based on his life. Meanwhile, families of victims, and investigators such as Knippenberg, despaired of seeing justice served. â€œSuburbiaâ€ redirects here. ... Retirement is the point where a person stops employment completely. ... This article is about the concept of justice. ...

Then, on September 17, 2003, Sobhraj was unexpectedly spotted by a journalist in a street of Kathmandu and quickly reported to the local authorities. He was arrested two days later by Nepalese police in the casino of the Yak and Yeti hotel. On August 20, 2004, the Kathmandu District Court sentenced him to life imprisonment for the 1975 murders of Bronzich and Carrière. Most of the evidence against him came from the painstaking accumulation of documents by Knippenberg and Interpol. is the 260th day of the year (261st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2003 (MMIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... For the retail store chain, see Kathmandu (company). ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... is the 232nd day of the year (233rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Life imprisonment is a sentence of imprisonment for a serious crime, nominally for the entire remaining life of the prisoner, but in fact for a period which varies between jurisdictions: many countries have a maximum possible period of time (usually 50 years) a prisoner may be incarcerated, or require the... This article does not cite any references or sources. ...

Sobhraj's motives for returning to Nepal remain unknown, although arrogance and need for attention likely had a part in it. He appealed the conviction, claiming he was sentenced without trial. In September, his lawyer announced Sobhraj's wife in France would file a case against the French government before the European Court of Human Rights, for refusing to provide him with any assistance. His conviction was confirmed in 2005 by Kathmandu's Court of Appeals. This article is about the legal term. ... In law, a sentence forms the final act of a judge-ruled process, and also the symbolic principal act connected to his function. ... This article is about the political and administrative structures of the French government. ... European Court of Human Rights building in Strasbourg The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), often referred to informally as the Strasbourg Court, was created to systematise the hearing of human rights complaints against States Parties to the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, adopted by... Court of Appeals or (outside the U.S. and in some American states) Court of Appeal is the title of a court which has the power to consider or hear an appeal. ...

Pop culture

In the episode "Slither," part of the fifth season of Law & Order: Criminal Intent, the character of Bernard Fremont (played by Michael York) is clearly^{[citation needed]} based on Charles Sobhraj. Fremont is killed (offscreen) by his former lover and accomplice Nicole Wallace (played by Olivia d'Abo), who may have been partly based on Leclerc or Chantal. Law & Order: Criminal Intent is a United States crime drama television series that began in 2001. ... For the American hockey player, see Mike York. ... This article or section contains a plot summary that is overly long. ... Olivia Jane dAbo (born January 22, 1969[1] in London, England) is an English actress and singer-songwriter. ...

Biographies

Films

Year 1989 (MCMLXXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday (link displays 1989 Gregorian calendar). ...

References

External links

Categories: Articles needing additional references from October 2007 | All articles with unsourced statements | Articles with unsourced statements since October 2007 | 1944 births | Living people | French serial killers | Prisoners serving life sentences | Indian serial killers | Vietnamese-French people | Stateless persons | Indian French people The Crime Library is an online collection of feature stories about crimes, criminals, and trials by various writers. ... The Internet Movie Database (IMDb) [1] is an online database of information about actors, movies, television shows, television stars and video games. ...

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