It has been reported that the extradition process to bring Joran van der Sloot from Peru to the United States has started. Maximo Altez, the attorney for van der Sloot, has documents that show a judge approved the request made by the United States for a provisional detention. A provisional detention is the first step in bringing van der Sloot to the United States in an effort to charge him with extorting money from Natalee Holloway’s mother. Altez told reporters that his client is afraid of being extradited because of the reputation U.S. prisons have for being ‘very hard’ on inmates. Van der Sloot was convicted of killing a Peruvian woman a couple of months ago and was sentenced to 28 years in prison for the killing of the woman, Stephany Flores.
Flores had been found stabbed to death in the Lima hotel room of van der Sloot on June 2, 2010. Police claim that Flores was actually killed on May 30, which was the five-year anniversary of the disappearance of U.S. citizen Natalee Holloway, who was Mountain Brook, Alabama. Holloway was on a class trip in Aruba when she went missing and van der Sloot was the main suspect. Her body has not been found and van der Sloot has not been charged with her disappearance. Van der Sloot was indicted in the United States on extortion charges when he took $25,000 from Holloway’s parents. He promised the family that if they paid him he would tell them where they could find her body and he would tell them how the teenager died. Van der Sloot could face 10 years in prison for the charge of extortion.
It is yet to be seen whether or not if van der Sloot will be charged with murder in the United States. Altez, who represented van der Sloot in the Flores case, said he expects that the officials in Peru will permit the extradition to take place. Altez also said that he expects van der Sloot to be found guilty of the extortion charge in the United States.
“He will be sentenced in U.S. and then be brought to Peru to serve his sentence for the murder of Stephany Flores,” Altez said.
No statements or comments have been made by Peruvian authorities in regards to when a decision on the extradition will be made. In the meantime, van der Sloot is in prison at Piedras Gordas prison, which is located in Ancon.