An Interpol official in Peru tells Fox News Digital he believes Joran van der Sloot will be transferred to the United States despite last-minute efforts by his lawyer to keep him in the country.
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.
Maximo Altez, a lawyer for van der Sloot, told Fox News Digital he has filed a habeas corpus petition against the Peruvian government in an attempt to stop the transfer of his client to the United States.
The court filing by Altez says his client wasn’t notified by Peruvian officials of the “temporary extradition” process that was ongoing against him, which Altez contends is a “serious constitutional violation.”
Joran van der Sloot and Natalee Holloway (Getty, AP Images)
According to the lawyer, the Peruvian court has 24 hours from Tuesday morning to respond to the petition.
However, Col. Carlos López Aeda, the chief of Interpol in Lima, Peru, told Fox News Digital he believes the extradition will still happen as planned Thursday.
López Aeda said van der Sloot is being held at the Ancón 1 Prison in Lima until he’s transferred to FBI custody on Thursday. The FBI will then take him to the U.S.
“He is already admitted to the Ancón 1 Prison in Lima awaiting his next transfer to the USA,” López Aeda said.
A Peruvian court on Wednesday ordered the director of Ancón 1 Prison to notify van der Sloot of the upcoming extradition.
JORAN VAN DER SLOOT’S LAWYER TO FILE HABEAS CORPUS PETITION IN ATTEMPT TO STOP TRANSFER TO USA
A court order from the 22nd Criminal Court in Lima, Peru, notifying Joran van der Sloot of his extradition to the United States. (Provided)
Joran Van der Sloot of the Netherlands, center, is transferred by police from police headquarters to a prosecutor’s office in Lima June 10, 2010. (Reuters/Stringer)
The Dutch national is being held 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 because of a drug smuggling scandal he was involved in while in jail.
López Aeda told Fox News Digital June 2 that officials will begin taking van der Sloot from Challapalca Prison to a maximum-security prison in Lima at midnight.
Natalee Holloway was last seen alive in Aruba while on a Mountain Brook High School senior trip. (Federal Bureau of Investigation)
“[Van der Sloot] will leave [Challapalca] tonight, and on Sunday morning he will be in Lima, ready for the transfer,” López Aeda said.
Natalee Holloway’s body has never been found. In January 2012, van der Sloot pleaded guilty to killing Flores, and Natalee Holloway was legally declared dead that month.
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Beth Holloway, mother of Natalee Holloway, speaks during the opening of the Natalee Holloway Resource Center (NHRC) at the National Museum of Crime & Punishment in Washington June 8, 2010. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)
In a statement shared with Fox News Digital when the transfer of van der Sloot was announced, Beth Holloway, Natalee’s mother, said this gives a chance for justice to finally be served.
“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.”
