Birmingham, Al (WIAT) Is Joran van der Sloot a psychopathic killer of young women….a beleaguered victim of circumstance….an amazing legal escape artist…or some combination? The question is increasingly relevant as he appeals a murder confession in Peru.
He’s in a Peruvian prison accused of murdering 21 year old Stephany Flores. He’s considered the prime suspect in the 2005 disappearance of Mountain Brook teenager Natalee Holloway in Aruba. Police in Thailand are reportedly investigating his ties to a sex slave plot in that country.
Yet he’s never been convicted of any of those crimes.
Although police in Aruba questioned him several times in Holloway’s disappearance on a graduation trip to the island…and although she was last seen with van der Sloot…he was never charged with a crime there.
His situation is Peru is murkier. Police there have a variety of evidence. Flores’ corpse was found in his Lima hotel room. Security cameras show the two of them entering the room and him leaving without her. There is reportedly forensic evidence from the room. And Peruvian investigators say he confessed to killing Flores after she found material relating to Natalee Holloway on his laptop.
It’s not van der Sloot’s first confession….he’s confessed…and recanted…several times regarding Natalee. A Peruvian judge rejected van der Sloot’s initial appeal that his Flores confession was coerced, that he had improper legal representation and didn’t have a proper translator present.
A three judge panel is currently considering an appeal of that effort to throw out the confession.
Now, the website
Dutchnnews.nl is citing Peruvian TV station Panamericana Television as saying the legal process against van der Sloot has “ground to a halt.”
Lawyer Máximo Altez told the programme the case is stagnating because no official interpreter can be found.
Panamericana Televisión showed a letter from the Peruvian association of translators and interpreters which said it has no one who can translate from Spanish into Dutch. It also showed a letter from the Dutch embassy in which it says it has no official interpreter available.
The Dutch newspaper
De Telegraaf quoted the Dutch Foreign Ministry as saying it provides lists of qualified interpreters in every country but does not, itself, provide interpreters.
UPDATE: Radio Netherlands Worldwide offers a bit more information in an article titled Joran van der Sloot trial grinds to a halt: "A representative for the Netherlands’ Foreign Ministry said in a response on Sunday evening that its embassies always provide lists of lawyers and recognised translators, from which Dutch citizens accused of a crime aboard can choose. Reliable lists are always available. The embassies themselves, said the representative, do not provide translators."
