Friday, February 15, 2008

Joran van der Sloot will not be re-arrested in the Natalee Holloway-case, the Aruban public prosecution department confirms today. The Dutch student Van der Sloot, major suspect in the disappearing of Holloway, confessed on secret footage that he was with Natalee the evening she died. The Aruban appeal court says that, while Joran van der Sloot is still an important suspect, the tapes don’t reveal enough new evidence to bring him back into custody. Van der Sloot was already arrested twice in this case.

Van der Sloot’s confession on secret camera while in a car with a friend includes his statement that after Natalee died, her body was dumped at sea by a friend. The footage was presented on Dutch television by crime-reporter Peter R. de Vries, and was also aired in the United States and other countries.

Van der Sloot’s lawyer Bert van Rooij told Dutch Radio-1 today that justice officials based their decision not to re-arrest Van der Sloot on his statement that the confessions he made on the video are made-up. “There are objective facts which counteract what he has said,” said Van Rooij.