Dutch officials are advising Joran van der Sloot to fight his scheduled transfer from Peru to the United States, where he’s facing federal charges relating to an alleged extortion plot, according to his lawyer.
Van der Sloot is the prime suspect in the May 2005 disappearance of Natalee Holloway in Aruba during a Mountain Brook High School, Alabama, senior trip.
According to a report from De Telegraaf, a Dutch news outlet, Maximo Altez, van der Sloot’s lawyer, said officials from the Dutch embassy in Peru saw his client on Monday and advised him to fight the upcoming transfer to the United States in court.
The lawyer also said van der Sloot hasn’t signed his emergency passport.
“The Netherlands cannot interfere in the local legal process of another country. We provide consular assistance, including visits, to all Dutch nationals in foreign detention who wish to do so,” the spokesperson said.
Altez filed a habeas corpus petition against the Peruvian government on Tuesday in an attempt to stop the transfer.
The petition states that van der Sloot wasn’t notified by Peruvian officials of the “temporary extradition” process that was ongoing against him, which Altez contends is a “serious constitutional violation.”
The Dutch national is facing charges of extortion and wire fraud in the United States after he allegedly tried to sell Beth Holloway, Natalee’s mother, information regarding the location of her daughter’s body. The Peruvian government ruled in early May that he would be temporarily transferred to the United States to face those charges, then returned to the United States when he’s sentenced.
Federal prosecutors say van der Sloot asked for $250,000 — $25,000 upfront for the information and the rest to be paid out when the body of Natalee Holloway was positively identified.
However, van der Sloot lied to Beth Holloway’s lawyer, John Q. Kelly, about where her daughter’s remains were located, according to American prosecutors.
Jun 18, 2005; Birmingham, AL, USA; Natalee Holloway, 18, with her date, Henry Ennis before her senior prom in Mountain Brook, Alabama on May 13, 2005. Holloway vanished May 30 while on a five-day senior trip to Aruba with more than 100 classmates and seven adult chaperones. (Courtesy Beth Twitty/ZUMA Press )
He’s currently being held at the Ancón 1 Prison in Lima until his transfer to the United States, which is expected to happen on Thursday.
“He is already admitted to the Ancón 1 Prison in Lima awaiting his next transfer to the USA,” López Aeda said.
