LIMA -- Peru's top court has ruled Dutch citizen Joran van der Sloot can be extradited to the United States in connection with the 2005 disappearance in Aruba of Alabama teenager Natalee Holloway - but only after serving a 28-year Peruvian prison sentence for murder. 

According to documents seen by Reuters, Peru's Supreme Court decided last week that Van der Sloot's extradition must wait until he serves out his sentence for the 2010 killing of a young Peruvian business student in Lima. The sentence handed down in January is under appeal.

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Van der Sloot, 24, is wanted in the United States for extortion in connection with the unsolved Holloway case in which he was a prime suspect.

Van der Sloot's lawyer Maximo Altez defended the extradition delay, saying it would be impossible for his client to get a fair trial in the U.S., Peru's El Comercio reported (Link in Spanish).

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"At this moment Joran van der Sloot will not have a fair trial in the United States because he has been satanized by the press, he is looked at like a demon," he told the newspaper. 

However, van der Sloot could spend less than a decade behind bars in Peru because the country often frees prisoners for good behavior after serving a third of their terms. His lawyers want his sentence cut anyway.

US asks Peru to extradite van der Sloot

"We were surprised by how quickly the extradition request was heard," Altez told Reuters. "We think there is a lot of pressure from the U.S. government."

The U.S. embassy in Lima didn't immediately respond to requests for comment. It initiated a process to extradite Van der Sloot to face charges of extortion on January 30.

Prosecutors say van der Sloot, who was arrested but never charged over Holloway's disappearance, tried to get thousands of dollars in cash from her family in exchange for information on the whereabouts of her body.

Judge agrees Natalee Holloway is dead

Holloway was last seen during a graduation trip to the Caribbean island of Aruba.

Van der Sloot's lawyers have argued that post-traumatic stress from the Holloway inquiries led Van der Sloot to kill 21-year-old Stephany Flores in a Lima hotel room after he saw her looking at his laptop, which contained e-mails about the Aruba case. They had met playing poker in a Lima casino. 

Reuters contributed to this report.

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LIMA, Peru --  Joran van der Sloot, on trial in the murder of a young Peruvian woman Friday nearly seven years after he became the prime suspect in the unsolved disappearance of an American teenager on holiday in Aruba, appears to be on the verge of pleading guilty.

The 24-year-old Dutchman is charged with killing Stephany Flores, 21, in his Lima hotel room on May 30, 2010, after the two left a casino together in the day's early hours. 

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The slaying happened five years to the day after the disappearance of Natalee Holloway, a 19-year-old from Alabama who was celebrating her high school graduation on the Dutch Caribbean island of Aruba and was seen leaving a nightclub with van der Sloot.

Her body has never been found and he remains the prime suspect in that killing.

Van der Sloot shook his head as the prosecutor detailed the case against him in the Flores case. When asked how he would plead, he answered in rudimentary Spanish, "I want to give a sincere confession, but I don't agree with all the charges that has placed on me by the prosecutor. Can I have more time to think about this?"

Judge Victoria Montoya agreed to the postponement.

Van der Sloot entered the courtroom Friday morning in a blue blazer and faded blue jeans with a bulletproof vest beneath the jacket. He sported a crew cut and wore a long-sleeved gray shirt.

Defense attorney Jose Luis Jimenez told The Associated Press Friday that there was a 70 percent chance Van der Sloot will plead guilty, which could help him get a reduced sentence.

Flores' father, Ricardo Flores, told the AP Friday that the family would participate in the trial in hopes of ensuring that van der Sloot is also accused of robbery in connection with the killing,

Prosecutors are seeking a 30-year prison sentence on murder and theft charges.

But Jimenez has said he would argue that his client was in a state of emotional distress when he killed Flores and "seek to reduce the charge from first-degree murder to simple homicide." The latter carries a prison sentence of from eight to 20 years.

Police and Flores' family dispute Van der Sloot's version of her death. They say the defendant was hard up for cash and knew the Peruvian business student had been winning at the casino.

"We hope that throughout this process our attorneys can demonstrate the true motives for the killing of my daughter," Ricardo Flores said.

Van der Sloot has in several interviews described himself as a pathological liar. He has been in custody after his arrest in neighboring Chile just days after Flores' death.

Van der Sloot shares a cell with a Mexican and a Chinese inmate at the maximum security Miguel Castro Castro prison, separated from convicted prisoners, said Jimenez.

He said Van der Sloot spends his days making crafts and reading self-help books.

"His mood is super good," Jimenez said during a telephone interview with the Associated Press on Wednesday.

The defendant has granted several jailhouse interviews to media and was confronted there in September 2010 by Holloway's mother, Beth Holloway Twitty, when she accompanied a Dutch television crew. Her lawyer, John Kelly, said at the time that she was determined to get answers about her daughter.

Van der Sloot has told several people he was involved in Holloway's disappearance, only to later deny it.

U.S. law enforcement officials say he extorted $25,000 from Twitty after offering to lead Kelly to Holloway's body in Aruba, using the money to fly to Lima on May 14, 2010, just days after meeting with Kelly.

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The Associated Press and msbc.com staff conributed to this report.