Joran van der Sloot: Natalee Holloway suspect to be extradited in 28 years

Joran van der Sloot's extradition to stand trial in connection with the Natalee Holloway case has been approved by Peru's Supreme Court, but he will only make his way to the United States after he serves his 28-year Peruvian prison sentence for the 2010 murder of 21-year-old Stephany Flores.

But the court's decision, made on May 23, is not final, according to the Associated Press. Van der Sloot's lawyer Maximo Altez said Peru's justice minister and Cabinet still have to endorse it.

Van der Sloot, 24, could spend less than 10 years behind bars in Peru, since the South American country often frees prisoners for good behavior after serving a third of their terms, reported Reuters.

"We were surprised by how quickly the extradition request was heard," Altez told Reuters. "We think there is a lot of pressure from the US government. We think that if Joran van der Sloot is extradited to the US he won't receive a fair trial."

Altez also told the AP that the Peruvian Supreme Court's decision about van der Sloot's extradition follows a pattern, "because there are various people in the same situation and they will all be extradited when they finish their sentences. There's no reason Joran van der Sloot should be different."

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Van der Sloot has appealed his murder sentence and, if the appeal is successful, he could be extradited immediately, reported the AP. His lawyer said he would resist if that occurred.

According to Reuters, prosecutors said van der Sloot tried to get thousands of dollars in cash from Holloway's family in exchange for information about the location of her body. He was arrested but never charged in the unsolved 2005 disappearance of Holloway, an American teen on holiday in Aruba, and now faces extortion and mail fraud charges in Alabama.