Global Courant 2023-05-11 06:16:50
MEXICO CITY (AP) — The government of Peru on Wednesday issued an executive order authorizing the extradition to the United States of the prime suspect in the unsolved 2005 disappearance of American college student Natalee Holloway on the Dutch Caribbean island of Aruba.
The Peruvian embassy in Washington told The Associated Press the order allows for the temporary extradition of Dutchman Joran van der Sloot to be prosecuted on alleged racketeering and telephone fraud charges stemming from the Holloway case.
Holloway, who lived in suburban Birmingham, Alabama, was 18 when she was last seen traveling with classmates to Aruba. Her mysterious disappearance after a night out with friends at a nightclub sparked years of coverage, especially in the tabloids and true crime media.
Holloway’s body was never found and no charges were brought against Van der Sloot in the case. A judge later pronounced Holloway dead.
US prosecutors allege that in early 2010, just before going to Peru, Van der Sloot accepted $25,000 in cash from Holloway’s family in exchange for a promise to lead them to her body. Holloway was from Mountain Brook, Alabama.
Van der Sloot does is serving 28 years in prison in Peru on conviction for the murder of 21-year-old Peruvian student Stephany Flores after meeting her in a casino in Lima in 2010.
The murder occurred on the day five years after Holloway disappeared during a high school graduation trip to Aruba, where Van der Sloot lived. She was last seen leaving a bar with him.
“At a time when there is increasing cross-border transit of people, our institutions are keeping pace with criminals being brought to justice,” said Edgar Alfredo Rebaza, director of the Peruvian National Police Agency for International Judicial Cooperation and Extraditions. prosecutor’s office. , a statement said. “We will continue to cooperate on legal issues with allies such as the United States and many others with whom we have extradition treaties.”
A 2001 treaty between Peru and the US allows a suspect to be temporarily extradited to face trial in the other country. It requires the detainee to be “returned” after the legal proceedings “against that person” have ended, under terms to be determined by both countries.
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Fox News reported that the young woman’s mother, Beth Holloway, said in a statement that her daughter would have had her 36th birthday on Wednesday.
“It has been a very long and painful journey, but the persistence of many will pay off,” she said. “Together we will finally get justice for Natalee.”
Lawyer Maximo Altez, who represents Van der Sloot, told the AP he will challenge the decision once properly notified by the Peruvian government.
“I’m going to challenge that resolution,” Altez said. “I’m going to oppose it, as he has a right to defense.”
Van der Sloot pleaded guilty to a murder charge against Flores in January 2012.
Prosecutors accused him of killing Flores, a business student from a prominent family, in order to rob her after learning she had won money at the casino where the two met. They said he killed her with “cruelty” and “cruelty”, beating and then strangling her in his hotel room.
Van der Sloot was not immediately available for comment on Wednesday. It was not clear if he has a lawyer who can speak on his behalf. More than a decade ago, he told a Peruvian judge he would resist attempts to be extradited to the US
Van der Sloot married a Peruvian woman in July 2014 in a ceremony held in a high-security prison.
