Court decides later on the arrest of Joran
Amigoe.com
02/12/2008

The Courthouse in Willemstad on Curacao, where the Court of Justice is residing.

ORANJESTAD – The Public Prosecutor (OM) announced yesterday that the Common Court of Justice of the Neth.Antilles and Aruba won’t decide on a possible arrest of Joran van der Sloot tomorrow, because it was decided that the Dutch lawyer of Van der Sloot gets till Wednesday to give his vision on the case.

The examining magistrate decided two weeks ago that the confessions of Van der Sloot that were secretly recorded by Peter R. de Vries, are not enough for arresting him in the Netherlands. The OM that attaches much importance to the statements of the suspect, lodged an objection to the decision. Expectations were that the objection would be honoured or not after last weekend. The OM has till Friday afternoon to submit all relevant information on the suspect. One day before that, on Thursday, Van der Sloot was voluntarily interrogated by detectives of the Aruban police and of the Corps National Police services (KLPD) in Rotterdam, as a result of the recordings. With that interrogation and with supplemental investigation, the OM wanted to gather sufficient evidence to arrest the suspect a third time due to his participation in the Holloway-case. After earlier arrests of the suspect, the examining magistrate is now making very high demands in order to approve the custody.

The minister of Justice, Rudy Croes has declared Joran van der Sloot, who is suspected of having murdered Natalee Holloway, persona non grata. Other than for judicial investigation, Joran van der Sloot is no longer welcome on the island.

The ministry of Justice also proposes this vote of censure in the light of a package of measures to tackle criminality problems among Aruban and Antillean young persons in the Netherlands that is agreed upon in the Dutch cabinet. The Dutch Justice-minister Ernst Hirsch Ballin is preparing a law that makes it possible to send them back to Aruba or the Antilles if necessary. “Let Joran be the first example of a Dutchman that is not wanted in Aruba”, said the minister, who also knows that judicially, it’s going to be difficult to really deny him admission to the country. “I simply do not want him here.”