AMSTERDAM, Netherlands – The lawyer for an Aruba national detained in the Netherlands in connection with the disappearance of Natalee Holloway was expected to file a suit Monday to prevent his extradition to the Caribbean island.
The man’s lawyer, Gerald Sponge, told the Netherlands national broadcaster, NOS, that his client, Guido Wever, was considered a witness last June by Aruban investigators. The man is now suspected of “assisting in the murder” of the Alabama high school senior.
The charge is the most severe “in our criminal code,” Sponge said.
Holloway was 18 when she went missing in May 2005 during a graduation trip to the Dutch Caribbean island of Aruba with classmates. She was last seen leaving a bar with three young men on May 30.
Dutch marines, the Aruban Coast Guard, the FBI and hundreds of volunteers have all searched the island and coastal areas of Aruba for Holloway, to no avail.
The suspect was arrested Wednesday and is being questioned in the city of Utrecht, Sponge said. The suspect has not been formally charged. The questioning was to continue Monday, he said.
Sponge said he planned to file a suit Monday to prevent his client from being extradited to Aruba.
Karin Janise, a prosecutor in Aruba’s public prosecutor’s office, declined to comment on the arrest.
Authorities have previously arrested eight people in connection with Holloway’s disappearance and then released them for lack of evidence.
Sponge said the suspect is a friend of Joran van der Sloot – the last person known to have seen Holloway alive. Van der Sloot says he left Holloway alone on a beach after the pair kissed.
The suspect was questioned three times in Aruba shortly after Holloway’s disappearance and twice later by Dutch authorities, Sponge said.
Utrecht police spokeswoman Danielle Freedman said Dutch officials will not comment on the investigation, which is being carried out under the authority of Aruban prosecutors.
Holloway’s parents are attempting to sue van der Sloot, 18, in a New York court. Their suit alleges he imprisoned and sexually assaulted Holloway, and caused her disappearance.