Van der Sloot to Aruba on Friday

23 November 2007

ORANJESTAD – Joran van der Sloot, the 20-year-old man suspected of involvement in the death of Natalee Holloway, will arrive in Aruba on Friday evening (local time).

The public prosecution department on Aruba has confirmed this, as has Van der Sloot’s Dutch lawyer L. van den Eeden.

Van der Sloot was questioned by the examining judge in Arnhem on Thursday. He was arrested in his home town of Arnhem on Wednesday at the request of Aruban justice authorities.

Van den Eeden says his client is very upset. “He had just managed to get a grip on his life again. That has been destroyed now in a flash by this arrest,” Van den Eeden said Thursday after the hearing.

Van der Sloot’s parents, Anita and Paul van der Sloot, have still not had any contact with their son. “That is not unusual when you’ve been arrested,” says the father, who is a lawyer by profession. “I am not aware of any new evidence, but we are following the case as closely as we can.”

The international media has been trickling in on Aruba. A camera crew from American broadcaster ABC has already approached the public prosecution department there, and CNN and European media are in situ.

Subject: Dutch news