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.
JORAN VAN DER SLOOT’S LAWYER TO FILE HABEAS CORPUS PETITION IN ATTEMPT TO STOP TRANSFER TO USA
Joran Van der Sloot (C) of the Netherlands is escorted by Peruvian police officers at the police headquarters in Lima June 5, 2010. Chile on Friday deported to Peru Van der Sloot who is wanted for the murder of 21-year-old Stephany Flores in Lima and has been linked to the 2005 disappearance of an American teenage girl in Aruba. (Reuters/Pilar Olivares )
Altez confirmed to Fox News Digital that he made the comments to the Dutch news outlet.
In a comment to Fox News Digital, a spokesperson for the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that “We cannot go into individual matters.”
“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 lawyer told Fox News Digital that the Peruvian court has 24 hours to respond to the petition from when it was filed.
Joran Van der Sloot (L) is escorted by police officers on an airplane in Santiago June 4, 2010. Van der Sloot, who was arrested twice over the disappearance of a U.S. student in Aruba in 2005, has been expelled from Chile and will be handed out to Peruvian authorities where he is a prime suspect in a new murder probe, according to local media reports. (Reuters/Danny Alveal)
A man directs Dutch citizen Joran Van der Sloot (L) to his seat before the trial in the Lurigancho prison in Lima January 11, 2012. Van der Sloot, who was arrested but never charged in the 2005 disappearance of 18-year-old Alabama native Natalee Holloway on the Dutch Caribbean island of Aruba, has told police he killed 21-year-old business student Stephany Flores after meeting her in a casino in Lima. He may accept murder charges against him in a plea offer to judges on Wednesday in exchange for a reduced sentence, his lawyer said. (Reuters/Pilar Olivares)
According to Col. Carlos López Aeda, the chief of Interpol in Lima, Peru, van der Sloot was set to be temporarily transferred to the United States on Thursday by the FBI.
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; (FILE PHOTO) NATALEE HOLLOWAY, 18, with her 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. Mandatory Credit: Photo by Courtesy Beth Twitty/ZUMA Press (©) Copyright 2005 by Courtesy Beth Twitty (Courtesy Beth Twitty/ZUMA Press )
Natalee Holloway was last seen alive in Aruba while on a Mountain Brook high school senior trip. (Federal Bureau of Investigation)
Van der Sloot is currently in a Peruvian prison for the murder of 21-year-old Stephany Flores in 2010. Van der Sloot was originally sentenced to 28 years in prison for the killing, but more time was added on because of a drug smuggling scandal he was involved in while in jail.
Natalee Holloway’s body was never found. In January 2012, van der Sloot pleaded guilty to killing Flores, and Natalee Holloway was legally declared dead that month.
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.
In a statement shared with Fox News Digital when the transfer of van der Sloot was announced, Beth Holloway, Natalee’s mother, said that this gives a chance for justice to finally be served.
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Beth Holloway fights back tears as she participates in the launch of the Natalee Holloway Resource Center on June 8, 2010 in Washington, DC. The non profit resource center was founded by Holloway and the National Museum of Crime & Punishment and was created to assist families of missing persons. Beth Holloway’s daughter Natalee is the Alabama teen who disappeared five years ago in Aruba. (Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images)
“I was blessed to have had Natalee in my life for 18 years, and as of this month, I have been without her for exactly 18 years. She would be 36 years old now,” Beth Holloway said. “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 Natalee,” Beth Holloway said.
