Killer Joran van der Sloot will be transferred to US despite last minute attempts to keep him in Peru
Anish Vij
Featured Image Credit: UPI / Alamy Stock Photo / Associated Press / Alamy Stock Photo
The prime suspect of American student Natalee Holloway's 2005 disappearance will be extradited to the US, a judge has ruled.
A Peruvian judge has confirmed that Joran van der Sloot's planned extradition from Peru to the US will go ahead.
The 35-year-old Dutch man - who has been serving a 28-year sentence in the South American nation for the 2010 murder of Stephany Flores, 21 - tried to block the custody transfer to Birmingham, Alabama.
"He does not want to be extradited to the United States of America," said his lawyer, Maximo Altez.
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"He was visited today by his embassy (representatives) who made him see the mistake he was making by being extradited without due process."
Van der Sloot remains the prime suspect in one of the US' most chilling missing-person cases.
Natalee Holloway disappeared almost 18 years ago while on on a graduation trip with friends on the Caribbean island of Aruba, a Dutch territory.
Three men - van der Sloot, 17, and brothers Satish, 18, and Deepak Kalpoe, 21 - were the initial suspects in the case, having been the last people to see the teen alive.
Natalee was last seen getting into Deepak's car with Satish and Joran.
Despite all three being released later on, van der Sloot remains a key suspect in the case as he went on to murder 21-year-old Stephany Flores Ramírez in the Peruvian capital of Lima – five years to the day of Natalee's disappearance.
On 18 December, 2007, prosecutors announced that the case would be closed without charging anyone with a crime.
However, on 1 February, 2008, the case was reopened after receiving video footage of van der Sloot.
In January 2012, van der Sloot was convicted of the murder of 21-year-old Stephany, which took place on 30 May, 2010.
At the time, Natalee's mother, Beth Holloway Twitty, criticised the handling of the investigation.
"If the investigation had been handled properly during the first 10 days, the world would not have witnessed and experienced the pain and suffering my family and I have endured," she said.
"For the rest of my life, I will continue to be the voice for my daughter, seeking justice in Aruba. Every parent would want the same justice for their child."
The Peruvian government has since allowed American authorities to take in the Dutch citizen 'for his prosecution in the United States for the alleged commission of the crimes of extortion and fraud, to the grievance of Elizabeth Ann Holloway', according to Peru Minister of Justice and Human Rights Daniel Maurate Romero.