Joran Van der Sloot extradition: Natalee Holloway suspect loses appeal to block transfer to US
What happened to Natalee Holloway? Alabama teen disappeared in 2005
LIMA, Peru -- Joran Van der Sloot, the prime suspect in the 2005 disappearance of Alabama teenager Natalee Holloway, lost an appeal to stop his extradition to the U.S.
His attorney had filed a habeas corpus petition against his client's temporary transfer from a Peru prison to the U.S.
Maximo Altez, an attorney for Joran Van der Sloot, argued his transfer should be stopped as he had not been notified officially, according to court documents seen by CNN and dated June 5.
The petition seems to contradict previous statements by Altez. On May 30, he told CNN en Espanol his client had agreed to be transferred and he was not expected to submit a habeas corpus application.
"I want to go to the US," Van der Sloot told Altez in a letter.
The Dutch citizen is currently held at the Ancón 1 prison in Peru and is expected to be handed over to US authorities later this week.
Van der Sloot was convicted in 2012 of murdering Stephany Flores, 21, in his Lima hotel room and sentenced to 28 years in prison.
In the United States, he's been indicted on federal charges of extortion and wire fraud for allegedly extorting money in 2010 from Holloway's mother by offering bogus information about her daughter's disappearance.
Peru initially agreed to extradite Van der Sloot to the US to face those charges only after he serves his murder sentence. But last month, the country changed course and agreed to temporarily extradite him to the US to face the extortion and wire fraud charges, after which he would be returned to Peru, the country's judiciary said.
Peru agreed to Van der Sloot's "temporary relocation to the United States, because he is condemned here and he must serve his sentence here," Justice Minister Daniel Maurate said. "But since the US needs him in order to face trial, and the authorities told us that if he didn't get there sooner, the case against him could be dropped because the witnesses are elderly."
Holloway was last seen alive with Van der Sloot and two other men 18 years ago leaving a nightclub in Aruba.
Police in Aruba arrested and released the three men - van der Sloot and brothers Deepak and Satish Kalpoe - multiple times in 2005 and 2007 in connection with Holloway's disappearance. Attorneys for the men maintained their innocence throughout the investigation.
In December 2007, the Aruban Public Prosecutor's Office said none of the three would be charged and dropped the cases against them, citing insufficient evidence.
Holloway's body has not been found. An Alabama judge signed an order in 2012 declaring her legally dead. No one is currently charged in her death.
ABC News contributed to this report.
The video in the player above is from an earlier report.
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