Court of Justice has to hear Joran’s lawyers
DIARIO Aruba
02/12/2008

ORANJESTAD (AAN) — The last release that Aruban criminal authorities, the Public Ministry, has released and that came to light yesterday, gave more reason to start thinking whether criminal authorities really know how the justice system works in Aruba.

Last week they told the press that they expect the judge’s decision to see if Joran will be re-detained on the basis of the interrogations that took place in Holland. They did not explain that the process will proceed on the basis of rules for a case that has gone into appeal and in which Joran van der Sloot’s attorney’s must be heard, that according to experts to say that he was under the influence of drugs when he made his statements. How can a person under the influence of drugs be heard, authorities demonstrated last year in the case of an addict in Aruba.

When the judge handed down the verdict, one of the parties involved appealed the decision. This means that they asked the Court of Justice to hear the case, which has to be treated as any other case. There are accusations and there is a defense.

The press release by criminal authorities created the impression that when the interrogation of van der Sloot ended in Holland, the judge was to decide if he’s to be re-detained. It seemed that the judge just had to allow Joran van der Sloot to be detained.

In reality, a case in appeal has to be tried again by the Court of Justice and not only with one judge. Criminal authorities present their accusations and the reason for which they believe that the decision of the judge of first instance has to be revoked. The accused has the right to the same defense that he had a right to after the judge’s decision for him to appeal the decision.

The information from the Public Ministry took away the legal path from view and created a different impression until yesterday, when criminal authorities again issued a press release to clear up one and another thing and put into perspective the manner in which the justice system functions.

Yesterday, criminal authorities – the Public Ministry – announced that contrary to other information, it could not be expected that yesterday, Monday February 11, the court would hand down a decision in its favour in the case that they appealed against the judge commissioner’s decision to refuse the detention of Joran van der Sloot.

The court of justice said that they will take a decision after February 13, since the attorney of Joran van der Sloot has until February 13, 2008 to give his point of view in the case that has been appealed. The Public Ministry again concluded in its press release that until the court has decided, it could not give any comment.

The question remains if the functioning of the justice system is not known by Aruban criminal authorities, who had problems in proving their accusations against Joran van der Sloot, who they detained on the basis of ‘new information’, who could not prove what Joran, who kept his mouth shut, did.

According to experts, it can be expected that Joran van der Sloot’s attorneys will say the same thing that Joran himself has said, that he was under the influence of drugs when he made the statements to de Vries. What does this mean? Could he be held responsible for his words that he spoke under the influence of drugs?

[translated by Getagrip]