No custody for Van der Sloot
Amigoe.com
02/15/2008

ORANJESTAD – After the Public Prosecutor appealed the decision of the examining magistrate not to detain Joran van der Sloot, the Common Court of Justice of the Neth.Antilles and Aruba announced yesterday evening that Joran van der Sloot will not be arrested again in the Holloway-case.

After having examined the possible slanderous image- and sound recording in secret by the editorial office of the Dutch crime journalist Peter R. de Vries, the Court says that there is not enough material to charge him. The Court can in any case not really answer the question whether based on that, the suspect must be taken into preventive custody. The decision also includes the situation that the suspect had given several inconsistent declarations, ‘whereby it also appeared more than once that these declarations could not be objectively confirmed’. What also played a part is the statement of Van der Sloot about having made up everything he had said in De Vries’ programme. The Court does not rule out the fact that the suspect has a ‘serious personality problem’.

“The Court questioned the verity of this statement, while we could have arrested him for a third time”, explained district attorney Dop Kruimel. Some of the things he said were partly consistent with justice’s own investigation. Others were not though, like the boat he mentioned; that has not been found yet.”

The OM has no statutory remedies left against the decision. The investigation in the Holloway-case will continue with 25 detectives working on it and Van der Sloot remains the suspect. The OM will decide on further prosecution of Van der Sloot after they are done with the investigation.

According to his lawyer Bert De Rooij, “Joran van der Sloot is not well off. He is in hiding and is constantly being threatened. Whether that is in the Netherlands or in Aruba, is not known. The lawyer said that he is not hiding for the police, but for the people’s tribunal. He has serious reasons to believe that he won’t make it across the street if we let him go free.”

Crime journalist Peter R. de Vries is of the opinion that by not arresting Joran van der Sloot, he is being rewarded for undermining the police investigation. He also does not understand that the Court does not want to arrest him because the Court is under the impression that Joran is a consistent liar. “The fact that a person constantly lies in a case of life and death, is precisely a motive to keep him/her locked behind bars.”

INFORMANT

The police have not told the Aruban authorities that Patrick van der Eem had come forward with the indication that Joran van der Sloot would perhaps talk to him about the Holloway-case. That’s what Justice-minister Ernst Hirsch Ballin told the Lower House on Thursday. Van der Eem, who was used by Peter R. de Vries as informant, reported to the Gelderland-Midden police last fall. The police didn’t work with him, because he made a condition that was against the rules. In connection with the privacy of Van der Eem and the sensitivity of the information, Hirsch Ballin didn’t go into this condition. The police also did not inform the Public Prosecutor. The minister indicated that it is part of the existing work arrangements. Besides, the OM would have most probably not accepted the man’s conditions, said the minister.