LIMA, Peru — The lawyer for the principle suspect within the unsolved 2005 disappearance of American scholar Natalee Holloway on Monday mentioned his shopper has modified his thoughts and plans to problem his extradition to the United States.
Defense legal professional Máximo Altéz introduced the choice of Dutchman Joran van der Sloot simply hours after the Peruvian authorities confirmed the extradition would happen Thursday. Altéz mentioned van der Sloot reversed course following a gathering with Dutch diplomats.
“He does not want to be extradited to the United States of America,” Altéz mentioned, including that he supposed to file a writ of habeas corpus. “He was visited today by his embassy (representatives) who made him see the mistake he was making by being extradited without due process.”
The legal professional mentioned van der Sloot was by no means notified of an open extradition course of, and because of this, was not in a position to problem it. Less than every week in the past, Altéz had mentioned his shopper defined in a letter he didn’t plan to problem the extradition.
The embassy didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark. The Peruvian Foreign Ministry mentioned it had “not received any complaint from the Netherlands regarding the case.”
Earlier Monday, the top of Peru’s jail system, Javier Llaque, advised The Associated Press that custody of van der Sloot shall be handed over to Interpol “first thing in the morning” Thursday, after which the Dutchman shall be taken to an airport within the capital, Lima, to board a airplane to the U.S.
Van der Sloot arrived Saturday at a corrections facility in Lima after an extended floor journey below strict safety measures from a jail within the Andes, the place he was serving a 28-year sentence for the homicide of a Peruvian lady.
The authorities of Peru introduced May 10 that it could quickly switch custody of van der Sloot to authorities within the U.S. to face trial on extortion and wire fraud expenses.
Holloway, who lived in suburban Birmingham, Alabama, was 18 when she was final seen throughout a visit with classmates to the Caribbean island of Aruba. She was final seen leaving a bar with van der Sloot, who was a scholar at a world faculty on the island.
Van der Sloot was recognized as a suspect and detained weeks later, together with two Surinamese brothers. Holloway’s physique was by no means discovered, and no expenses have been filed within the case. A choose later declared Holloway lifeless.
The federal expenses filed in Alabama in opposition to van der Sloot stem from an accusation that he tried to extort the Holloway household in 2010, promising to cause them to her physique in change for lots of of 1000’s of {dollars}. A grand jury indicted him that yr on one rely every of wire fraud and extortion.
Also in 2010, van der Sloot was arrested in Peru for the homicide of 21-year-old Stephany Flores, a enterprise scholar from a outstanding household who was killed 5 years to the day after Holloway’s disappearance. Van der Sloot pleaded responsible in Flores’ case in 2012.
A 2001 treaty between Peru and the U.S. permits a suspect to be quickly extradited to face trial within the different nation. The time that van der Sloot finally ends up spending within the U.S. “will be extended until the conclusion of the criminal proceedings,” together with the attraction course of ought to there be one, in accordance with a decision printed within the South American nation’s federal register. The decision additionally states that U.S. authorities agreed to return the suspect to the custody of Peru afterward.
The younger lady’s mom, Beth Holloway, in a press release launched after Peruvian authorities agreed to the extradition final month mentioned the household is “finally getting justice for Natalee.”
“It has been a very long and painful journey, but the persistence of many is going to pay off,” Beth Holloway mentioned.
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