LIMA, Peru — Peru’s executive will permit the extradition to the United States of the high suspect in the unsolved 2005 disappearance of American scholar Natalee Holloway at the Dutch Caribbean Island of Aruba, bringing her circle of relatives hope there will be justice in the case.
Dutch citizen Joran van der Sloot will face trial for alleged extortion and cord fraud, charges stemming from the Holloway case. The Peruvian Embassy in Washington instructed The Associated Press on Wednesday an government order permits for his brief extradition.
Holloway, who lived in suburban Birmingham, Alabama, was once 18 when she was once ultimate observed throughout a commute with classmates to Aruba. Her mysterious disappearance after an evening with buddies at a nightclub sparked years of news protection, specifically in the tabloid and true-crime media.
Holloway’s frame was once by no means discovered, and no charges have been filed in opposition to van der Sloot in the case. A pass judgement on later declared Holloway lifeless.
A grand jury in Alabama in 2010 indicted van der Sloot on twine fraud and extortion charges, accusing him of making an attempt to extort $250,000 from Holloway’s mom in change for information on the place her daughter was once buried.
An FBI agent wrote in a sworn statement that van der Sloot reached out to Holloway’s mom and sought after to be paid $25,000 to expose the positioning after which some other $225,000 when the stays have been recovered. During a recorded sting operation, van der Sloot pointed to a area the place he stated Holloway was once buried however in later emails admitted to mendacity concerning the location, the agent stated.
Van der Sloot is in Peru as a result of he’s serving 28 years in jail after being convicted of murdering 21-year-old Peruvian scholar Stephany Flores whom he met in a Lima on line casino in 2010.
The slaying passed off 5 years to the day after Holloway disappeared in Aruba, the place van der Sloot lived. She was once ultimate observed leaving a bar with him.
Peru’s Minister of Justice Daniel Maurate stated in a remark Wednesday the federal government made up our minds to “accept the request” from U.S. government “for the temporary transfer” of van der Sloot to be prosecuted on extortion and fraud charges.
“We will continue to collaborate on legal issues with allies such as the United States, and many others with which we have extradition treaties,” said Edgar Alfredo Rebaza, director of Peru’s Office of International Judicial Cooperation and Extraditions of the National Prosecutor’s Office.
A 2001 treaty between Peru and the U.S. allows a suspect to be temporarily extradited to face trial in the other country. It requires that the prisoner “be returned” after judicial proceedings are concluded “against that person, in accordance with conditions to be determined by” each international locations.
In a statement, the young woman’s mother, Beth Holloway, said she was blessed to have Natalee in her life for 18 years.
“She would be 36 years old now. It has been a very long and painful journey, but the persistence of many is going to pay off. Together, we are finally getting justice for Natalie.” Beth Holloway said.
Attorney Maximo Altez, who represents van der Sloot, told the AP he will fight the decision once he is properly notified by the Peruvian government.
“I am going to challenge that resolution,” Altez said. “I am going to oppose it since he has the right to a defense.”
Van der Sloot pleaded guilty in January 2012 to a murder charge in the slaying of Flores.
Prosecutors accused him of killing Flores, a business student from a prominent family, to rob her after learning she had won money at the casino where the two met. They said he killed her with “ferocity” and “cruelty,” beating then strangling her in his hotel room.
Van der Sloot could not immediately be reached for comment on Wednesday. More than a decade ago, he told a Peruvian judge that he would fight efforts to be extradited to the U.S.
Van der Sloot married a Peruvian woman in July 2014 in a ceremony at a maximum-security prison.
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Associated Press journalist Regina García Cano reported from Mexico City.
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