ORANJESTAD, Aruba – Aruban prosecutors said Tuesday they will appeal an order to compensate a man detained in the disappearance of U.S. teenager Natalee Holloway.
A judge on the Dutch Caribbean island ruled on July 28 that the prosecutor's office should pay $30,190 to Paulus van der Sloot, a former justice official in Aruba who was detained in the case for three days, for defamation and legal fees.
"The public prosecutor's office does not agree with the amount granted, since this is much higher than usual," spokeswoman Mariaine Croes said.
Van der Sloot, a Dutch national, was arrested June 23, 2005, in the disappearance of Holloway, from Mountain Brook, Alabama, who vanished a month earlier on the final night of her high school graduation trip to the island. She was 18 at the time of her disappearance.
Holloway was last seen leaving a bar with the official's son, Joran van der Sloot, and two Surinamese brothers.
Joran van der Sloot and the brothers were detained in her disappearance and later released after a court ruled there was not enough evidence to hold them.
At the time of his arrest, authorities said they suspected Paulus van der Sloot of assisting his son, but he was released three days later and was also never charged in the case.
Van der Sloot now works for a law firm on the island that represented his son. His attorney, Arie Swaen, did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment.
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