By . Daily Mail Reporter . UPDATED: . 01:24 EST, 6 June 2012 . A Peruvian court has ruled that convicted murderer Joran van der Sloot will be extradited to the U.S. to face trial allegedly linking him to the disappearance of Natalee Holloway. Not before, however, he has served his 28-year jail sentence in Peru for the murder of Stephany Flores. The decision by the Peruvian Supreme Court means that the family of Holloway, who disappeared in 2005 and has since been declared dead, will have to wait many more agonising years before they will see van der Sloot on trial. Jailed: Dutch citizen Joran Van der Sloot will face extradition to the U.S. for allegedly trying to extort money from Natalee Holloway's mother Beth . Convicted: Van der Sloot was sentenced to 28 years in prison in the murder of Stephany Flores . In the U.S., he is accused of trying . to extort $250,000 from Beth Holloway, Stephany's mother, to tell her where to find the . remains of her daughter, who was 18 when she disappeared in Aruba, a Dutch island in the southern Caribbean Sea. Prosecutors said $25,000 was paid to van der Sloot, but nothing was disclosed about Stephany's whereabouts. It . was thought that van der Sloot would be extradited to the U.S. to . participate in the trial before returning to begin his Peruvian . prison sentence. However, . the ruling is not all bad for the prosecution case against the Dutchman, . according to a leading international defense expert. 'There . is an upside because the U.S. now has several years to put together a . murder investigation. On murder, there is no statute of limitations,' Michael Griffith, senior partner at the International Legal Defense . Counsel, told the Huffington Post. Tale of two women: Stephany Flores, left, was murdered five years after Natalee Holloway, right, went missing in . Aruba. Van der Sloot was arrested twice in the Holloway case, but never . charged . 'Maybe . by the time he is released, [the U.S.] will have an airtight case . against him in Natalee Holloway's disappearance,' said Griffith. Legal . hurdles - including van der Sloot’s appeal for his Peru murder . conviction - have kept the process from going through immediately. The ruling on Friday came as some surprise to van der Sloot's lawyer. 'We were surprised by how quickly the . extradition request was heard,' Van der Sloot's attorney, Maximo Altez, . told Reuters. 'We think there is a lot of pressure from the U.S. government.' Altez had recently speculated he thought his client would be extradited within three months, and had believed the U.S. trial would go ahead before the Peruvian murder sentence. The ruling, however, may come as some relief to van der Sloot since Altez . said his client feared extradition because U.S. prisons have a reputation . for being 'very hard' on inmates. Taken away: Van der Sloot, centre, is seen escorted by police officers in Lima in this photo from June 2010, after his arrest for the murder of Stephany Flores . Authorities in the U.S. said they . believe the Dutchman used the money to travel to Peru on May 14, 2010, . where he was convicted of killing Stephany Flores, 21, a woman he met in . a Lima casino, on May 25. The date is a chilling one to the family of Natalee Holloway, from Mountain Brook, Alabama, as it was five years to the day after the 18-year-old was last seen. He . took cash and credit cards from Ms Flores before fleeing to Chile, . where he was caught two days after her decaying body was found. He confessed to the 'cruel' murder, telling police he became enraged after she found out about his suspected involvement in the Natalee Holloway case. Under Peru's penal system, van der Sloot could become eligible for parole after serving half of the sentence with good behaviour, including work and study. Natalee Holloway disappeared on May 30, 2005, during a high school graduation trip to Aruba, where Van der Sloot grew up. Parents: David Holloway, left, is seen . during a hearing in Alabama, while Beth . Holloway, right, is pursued by reporters after a hearing after which . her daughter was officially declared dead . Her body was never found and repeated searches turned up nothing as intense media coverage brought the case worldwide attention. Investigators have long worked from the assumption that the young woman was dead in Aruba, where the case was classified as a homicide investigation. That investigation remains open, though there has been no recent activity, according to Solicitor General Taco Stein, an official with the prosecutor's office in Aruba. Before and after: Van der Sloot is seen left in a mugshot from 2010 and right at in a Peru court on in January .
Delay will give prosecution plenty of time to pull together 'airtight case'
Van der Sloot was jailed for 28 years for murder of Stephany Flores in Lima .
Natalee Holloway went missing in Aruba in 2005 and has been declared dead .
Dutch citizen, 24, is accused of trying to extort $250,000 from Natalee's mother Beth Holloway to tell her where to find the remains of her daughter .
Lawyers believed van der Sloot would be extradited to face U.S. trial BEFORE serving his jail sentence in Peru .
By . Daily Mail Reporter . UPDATED: . 01:24 EST, 6 June 2012 . A Peruvian court has ruled that convicted murderer Joran van der Sloot will be extradited to the U.S. to face trial allegedly linking him to the disappearance of Natalee Holloway. Not before, however, he has served his 28-year jail sentence in Peru for the murder of Stephany Flores. The decision by the Peruvian Supreme Court means that the family of Holloway, who disappeared in 2005 and has since been declared dead, will have to wait many more agonising years before they will see van der Sloot on trial. Jailed: Dutch citizen Joran Van der Sloot will face extradition to the U.S. for allegedly trying to extort money from Natalee Holloway's mother Beth . Convicted: Van der Sloot was sentenced to 28 years in prison in the murder of Stephany Flores . In the U.S., he is accused of trying . to extort $250,000 from Beth Holloway, Stephany's mother, to tell her where to find the . remains of her daughter, who was 18 when she disappeared in Aruba, a Dutch island in the southern Caribbean Sea. Prosecutors said $25,000 was paid to van der Sloot, but nothing was disclosed about Stephany's whereabouts. It . was thought that van der Sloot would be extradited to the U.S. to . participate in the trial before returning to begin his Peruvian . prison sentence. However, . the ruling is not all bad for the prosecution case against the Dutchman, . according to a leading international defense expert. 'There . is an upside because the U.S. now has several years to put together a . murder investigation. On murder, there is no statute of limitations,' Michael Griffith, senior partner at the International Legal Defense . Counsel, told the Huffington Post. Tale of two women: Stephany Flores, left, was murdered five years after Natalee Holloway, right, went missing in . Aruba. Van der Sloot was arrested twice in the Holloway case, but never . charged . 'Maybe . by the time he is released, [the U.S.] will have an airtight case . against him in Natalee Holloway's disappearance,' said Griffith. Legal . hurdles - including van der Sloot’s appeal for his Peru murder . conviction - have kept the process from going through immediately. The ruling on Friday came as some surprise to van der Sloot's lawyer. 'We were surprised by how quickly the . extradition request was heard,' Van der Sloot's attorney, Maximo Altez, . told Reuters. 'We think there is a lot of pressure from the U.S. government.' Altez had recently speculated he thought his client would be extradited within three months, and had believed the U.S. trial would go ahead before the Peruvian murder sentence. The ruling, however, may come as some relief to van der Sloot since Altez . said his client feared extradition because U.S. prisons have a reputation . for being 'very hard' on inmates. Taken away: Van der Sloot, centre, is seen escorted by police officers in Lima in this photo from June 2010, after his arrest for the murder of Stephany Flores . Authorities in the U.S. said they . believe the Dutchman used the money to travel to Peru on May 14, 2010, . where he was convicted of killing Stephany Flores, 21, a woman he met in . a Lima casino, on May 25. The date is a chilling one to the family of Natalee Holloway, from Mountain Brook, Alabama, as it was five years to the day after the 18-year-old was last seen. He . took cash and credit cards from Ms Flores before fleeing to Chile, . where he was caught two days after her decaying body was found. He confessed to the 'cruel' murder, telling police he became enraged after she found out about his suspected involvement in the Natalee Holloway case. Under Peru's penal system, van der Sloot could become eligible for parole after serving half of the sentence with good behaviour, including work and study. Natalee Holloway disappeared on May 30, 2005, during a high school graduation trip to Aruba, where Van der Sloot grew up. Parents: David Holloway, left, is seen . during a hearing in Alabama, while Beth . Holloway, right, is pursued by reporters after a hearing after which . her daughter was officially declared dead . Her body was never found and repeated searches turned up nothing as intense media coverage brought the case worldwide attention. Investigators have long worked from the assumption that the young woman was dead in Aruba, where the case was classified as a homicide investigation. That investigation remains open, though there has been no recent activity, according to Solicitor General Taco Stein, an official with the prosecutor's office in Aruba. Before and after: Van der Sloot is seen left in a mugshot from 2010 and right at in a Peru court on in January .
extradited to the U.S. to face trial allegedly 28-year jail sentence in Peru for the murder of who disappeared in 2005 and has since been declared dead, will have to wait many more of Stephany Flores . In the U.S., he is accused of trying . to extort $250,000 from Beth Holloway, Stephany's mother, to tell her where to find the . remains of her daughter, who was 18 was thought that van der Sloot would be years after Natalee Holloway, right, went missing in . Aruba. Van der Sloot was arrested twice in