Joran Van der Sloot’s lawyer files petition to block his temporary transfer to the US
(CNN) — An attorney for Joran Van der Sloot, the prime suspect in the 2005 disappearance of Alabama teenager Natalee Holloway, has filed a habeas corpus petition against his client’s temporary transfer from a Peru prison to the US.
Maximo Altez, an attorney for Joran Van der Sloot, argued his transfer should be stopped as he had not been notified officially, according to court documents seen by CNN and dated June 5.
The petition seems to contradict previous statements by Altez. On May 30, he told CNN en Espanol his client had agreed to be transferred and he was not expected to submit a habeas corpus application.
“I want to go to the US,” Van der Sloot told Altez in a letter.
The Dutch citizen is currently held at the Ancón 1 prison in Peru and is expected to be handed over to US authorities later this week.
Van der Sloot was convicted in 2012 of murdering Stephany Flores, 21, in his Lima hotel room and sentenced to 28 years in prison.
In the United States, he’s been indicted on federal charges of extortion and wire fraud for allegedly extorting money in 2010 from Holloway’s mother by offering bogus information about her daughter’s disappearance.
Peru initially agreed to extradite Van der Sloot to the US to face those charges only after he serves his murder sentence, the Peruvian news agency Andina reported. But last month, the country changed course and agreed to temporarily extradite him to the US to face the extortion and wire fraud charges, after which he would be returned to Peru, the country’s judiciary said.
Holloway was last seen alive with van der Sloot and two other men 18 years ago leaving a nightclub in Aruba.
Police in Aruba arrested and released the three men – van der Sloot and brothers Deepak and Satish Kalpoe – multiple times in 2005 and 2007 in connection with Holloway’s disappearance. Attorneys for the men maintained their innocence throughout the investigation.
In December 2007, the Aruban Public Prosecutor’s Office said none of the three would be charged and dropped the cases against them, citing insufficient evidence.
Holloway’s body has not been found. An Alabama judge signed an order in 2012 declaring her legally dead. No one is currently charged in her death.