LIMA, Peru - Peruvian prosecutors have formally charged Joran van der Sloot with first-degree murder in last year's killing of a university student the defendant met at a Lima casino. They are seeking a 30-year jail sentence.
Van der Sloot was widely known before the May 30, 2010 killing of 21-year-old Stephany Flores as the prime suspect in the unresolved 2005 disappearance in Aruba of the American teenager Natalee Holloway.
A lawyer for Flores' family, Edward Alvarez, told The Associated Press he was notified on Thursday that formal charges were filed. He estimated the trial would begin in October.
Prosecutors are also seeking damages of more than $70,000.
In this file photo taken June 11, 2010 and obtained by The Associated Press via Peru's America Television channel, Dutch citizen Joran van der Sloot holds his inmate number before been transferred to the Miguel Castro Castro prison in Lima. Under an agreement signed Thursday, May 12, 2011 Dutch murder suspect Joran van der Sloot could serve part of his sentence in the Netherlands if he is convicted of murdering a Peruvian student nearly a year ago. The foreign ministers of the two countries agreed that Dutch prisoners in Peru and Peruvians jailed in the Netherlands can apply to complete their prison terms in their homeland once their appeal process has been completed. (AP Photo/America Television Channel, Domingo al Dia)