Peru will not seek life in prison for Van der Sloot

Peruvian prosecutors will seek a 30-year sentence rather than a life term in the murder trial of Joran Van der Sloot, a Dutch national accused of killing a 21-year-old business student, the judiciary said on Tuesday.

Van der Slot, who was also arrested but never charged in the 2005 disappearance in Aruba of 18-year-old Alabama native Natalee Holloway, has confessed to killing Peruvian Stephany Flores last year after meeting her in a casino in Lima.

Mario Amoretti, a Peruvian lawyer specializing in criminal law, said the public had expected prosecutors would try for a stiffer sentence against Van der Slot but they had to scale back their plans because of sentencing guidelines for murders in which robbery could be the primary motive.

If convicted and sentenced to a 30-year prison term, Van der Slot would be eligible for parole after serving 10 years. The trial is expected to start in about four months.

Peruvian police said Flores, the daughter of a wealthy businessman, was robbed and killed on May 30, 2010, five years to the day after Holloway disappeared.

Van der Slot has told police he strangled Flores after he found her looking at his laptop computer in his hotel room. The laptop contained emails about Holloway's death.

Van der Slot, reportedly 24 years old, fled to Chile after Flores' death but was arrested there and returned to Peru for questioning.

The murder probe brought renewed attention to the case of Holloway, who vanished during a high school graduation trip in the Dutch Caribbean island of Aruba, where Van der Slot was living.

Van der Slot was arrested twice in the Holloway case but he was never charged due to a lack of evidence. Holloway's family has criticized Dutch authorities for not making more progress in the case.