Joran van der Sloot sits in the courtroom before his sentencing at San Pedro prison in Lima, Peru, Friday Jan. 13, 2012. Van der Sloot, 24, will be sentenced Friday for the 2010 murder of Stephany Flores, a young woman he met at a Lima casino. Prosecutors have asked for a 30-year sentence for first-degree murder and theft. The Dutchman remains the prime suspect in the case of the unsolved disappearance of U.S. teen Natalee Holloway on the Caribbean island of Aruba and Holloway's parents want him extradited to the United States to be tried on related charges. (AP Photo/Karel Navarro)
Joran van der Sloot was convicted to 28 years in prison and ordered to pay 200,00 Nuevos Soles (little over $74,000) in reparations for the aggravated murder of Stephany Flores, a young woman he met at a Lima casino.
The Peruvian court found that he acted with "ferocity" and "extreme cruelty" in killing the 21 year-old.
He said he reserves the right to appeal.
Under Peru's penal system, Van der Sloot could become eligible for parole after serving half of the sentence with good behavior, including work and study.
Van der Sloot's lawyer argued that client killed the 21-year-old Flores in May 2010 during a fit of rage he blamed on psychological trauma from being hounded as the prime suspect in killing of U.S. teenager Natalee Holloway in Aruba.
The Holloway case remains open and her parents want Van der Sloot to eventually be extradited to the U.S. and tried on related charges. He has been indicted in extortion charges there for allegedly offering to lead a lawyer for Holloway's mother to her daughter's remains.
Van der Sloot long ago confessed the Flores killing, telling police he became enraged after the business student discovered his connection to the Holloway disappearance on his laptop while they played poker online. Police forensic experts disputed that version, and the victim's family said Van der Sloot killed Flores in order to rob her.
The prosecution maintained Van der Sloot killed Flores, concealing the crime and fleeing to Chile, where he was caught two days after Flores' decaying body was found.
He took more than $200 in cash plus credit cards from the victim and made his initial getaway in her car, leaving it in a different part of Lima, prosecutors say.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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