CNN —
Joran van der Sloot, the prime suspect in the 2005 disappearance of Alabama teenager Natalee Holloway, was “severely” beaten in a Peruvian prison, his attorney told ABC News on Monday.
Van der Sloot is set to be extradited to the US to face extortion and fraud charges related to allegations he tried to extort Holloway’s family after her disappearance, officials in Peru have said.
His Peruvian attorney, Maximo Altez, said he doesn’t believe the beating was related to the upcoming extradition. It may be connected to gang rules inside the Challapalca Prison where van der Sloot is being held, Altez said.
He was placed in the prison’s medical section and is asking Peru’s Ministry of Justice to transfer him to another prison as soon as possible, ABC News reported.
Van der Sloot, a Dutch national, was convicted in 2012 of murdering Stephany Flores, 21, in his Lima hotel room and sentenced to 28 years in prison.
CNN has reached out to Van der Sloot’s attorney and the Peruvian prison system for comment and has not yet received a response.
Van der Sloot is set to be extradited to the US to face extortion and fraud charges in connection with an alleged plot to sell false information about the whereabouts of 18-year-old Holloway’s remains in exchange for $250,000, officials said. Holloway’s mother, Beth Holloway, wired $15,000 to a bank account van der Sloot held in the Netherlands and through an attorney gave him another $10,000, the indictment states.
Once he had the $25,000, van der Sloot showed the attorney, John Kelly, where Natalee Holloway’s remains supposedly were hidden, but the information turned out to be false, the indictment states.
The indictment asks for van der Sloot to forfeit $25,100. That amount includes $100 Beth Holloway initially transferred to van der Sloot to confirm his account.
Natalee Holloway was last seen alive with van der Sloot and two other men 18 years ago leaving a nightclub in Aruba.
The three men – van der Sloot and brothers Deepak and Satish Kalpoe – were arrested in 2005 and released due to insufficient evidence.
They were rearrested and charged in 2007 for “involvement in the voluntary manslaughter of Natalee Holloway or causing serious bodily harm to Natalee Holloway, resulting in her death,” Aruban prosecutors said at the time.
But, a few weeks later, an Aruban judge ordered van der Sloot’s release, citing a lack of direct evidence that Holloway died from a violent crime or that van der Sloot was involved in such a crime. Van der Sloot maintains his innocence in the case.
The Kalpoe brothers were also released.
No one is currently charged in Holloway’s disappearance. Her body has not been found. An Alabama judge signed an order in 2012 declaring her legally dead.
