LIMA, Peru -- Joran van der Sloot, the prime suspect in the disappearance of U.S. teen Natalee Holloway, was due in court in Peru on Monday over the murder of a local woman.
The Dutchman is accused of robbing and murdering 21-year-old Stephany Flores, who was found dead in his Lima hotel room in May 2010. He was arrested after fleeing over the border to Chile and has been held in Lima's notorious Castro Castro prison ever since.
Prosecutors and Flores' family are seeking a 30-year prison term, arguing that this would be a "just penalty." Van der Sloot's defense team is seeking to lodge a manslaughter plea with a reduced sentence of six to 20 years, arguing their client acted in "a fit of rage" after Flores accessed files on his computer.
Van der Sloot remains the main suspect in the disappearance of Natalee Holloway, an 18-year-old Alabama student who vanished from the Caribbean holiday island of Aruba in 2005.
The Dutchman was previously arrested twice and held in custody for three months, but never charged, in connection with the Holloway case.
A grand jury in Alabama indicted van der Sloot last June for wire fraud and extortion after he allegedly asked Holloway's mother for $250,000 to tell her where to find her missing daughter's remains, which were never found.
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