USA/FILE: As Dutch citizen Joran Van der Sloot prepares to face trial for the murder of a Peruvian woman, lawyers acting on his behalf file a lawsuit saying his rights were violated

Record ID: 193503

  • Title: USA/FILE: As Dutch citizen Joran Van der Sloot prepares to face trial for the murder of a Peruvian woman, lawyers acting on his behalf file a lawsuit saying his rights were violated
  • Date: 6th January 2012
  • Summary: NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES (RECENT - DECEMBER 29, 2011) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) NEW YORK BASED LAWYER ALDO COTRINA SAYING: "They take Joran's confession after driving for 18 hours with two police officers who were making him promises and using scare tactics on him. And this wasn't only from the police, people from the town would approach the car and t
  • Embargoed: 21st January 2012 12:00
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  • Location: Usa
  • Country: USA
  • Reuters ID: LVAE83Y8P1NZAG5PWE18H8LC4U56
  • Story Text: On Friday (January 6), Dutch citizen Joran Van der Sloot will go on trial in Lima - accused of the murder of a young Peruvian woman in 2010.
    Van der Sloot has been in a Peruvian jail sine June 11, 2010. With prosecutors pushing for a tough sentence, Van der Sloot is fighting back, saying that his rights were violated during his detention and arrest.
    On September 4, 2011, lawyers in New York acting on his behalf filed a lawsuit at the Inter-American Commission for Human Rights.
    New York-based lawyer Aldo Cotrina filed the lawsuit.
    "The Inter-American Commission for Human Rights will make a decision and I was personally at the Inter-American Commission for Human Rights in Washington, DC on December 19 and I was assured by a lawyer that if irregularities are discovered in the expulsion of Joran (Van der Sloot) from Chile to Peru, they will indicate that Joran is in need of monetary compensation," Cotrina said.
    In June 2010, police found Flores dead in the Dutchman's hotel room in Lima. Van der Sloot fled Peru to Chile, where he was stopped and sent back.
    Van der Sloot has filed motions to have his signed and taped confession thrown out, saying Peru's homicide investigations unit violated his rights.
    Cotrina described it as a form of 'emotional terrorism'.
    "They take Joran's confession after driving for 18 hours with two police officers who were making him promises and using scare tactics on him. And this wasn't only from the police, people from the town would approach the car and threaten him. All of this was a form of terrorism that affected Joran emotionally and mentally so he would sign the confession on the 6th of June," Cotrina said.
    The lawsuit has been described as 'unlawful' by legal experts and many have said it was an attention-seeking tactic.
    Regardless, Cotrina told Reuters that should the Inter-American Commission for Human Rights find that Van der Sloot's rights were violated, Peru would have to remedy the situation.
    "The case isn't going to end on January 6 or once they sentence him afterwards. The case against Joran Van der Sloot will end when Peru remedies, cures all of the irregularities it committed during the judicial and police proceedings," he said.
    Prosecutors will seek at least a 30-year sentence.
    Van der Sloot was arrested twice following the 2005 disappearance of 18-year-old American Natalee Holloway in Aruba, but he was never charged due to a lack of evidence.
    Peruvian police have said that Van der Sloot strangled Flores after he found her looking at his laptop in his hotel room. The laptop allegedly contained e-mails about Holloway's death.
    According to police, Flores was killed on May 30 -- five years to the day after Holloway disappeared.
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