Dutch citizen Joran Van der Sloot is appealing his 28-year jail sentence for killing a young business student in Peru two years ago, his lawyer said late Monday.
Van der Sloot, who was arrested but never charged over the disappearance of Alabama woman Natalee Holloway in 2005, apologized for murdering student Stephany Flores and accepted all charges against him earlier this month.
Van der Sloot, 24, could spend less than a decade behind bars because Peru often frees prisoners for good behavior after serving a third of their terms, but his lawyer said the sentence should still be cut.
"We question the 28 years of deprivation of liberty and are seeking a reduction," Van der Sloot's lawyer Jose Jimenez told Reuters Television.
Confession
Jimenez claims the three judges who sentenced Van der Sloot on Jan. 13 did not take into account his client's initial confession to police.
Flores, a skillful poker player and daughter of a wealthy Lima businessman, was robbed and killed on May 30, 2010, five years to the day after Holloway vanished during a high school graduation trip to the Dutch Caribbean island of Aruba, where Van der Sloot was living.
Van der Sloot remains the main suspect in Holloway's disappearance and suspected death.
Jimenez has said "post-traumatic stress" from the Holloway inquiries led Van der Sloot to kill Flores after he saw her looking at his laptop, which contained e-mails about the Aruba case.
"We can legitimately aspire to a reduction in the penalty, as we believe some aspects of the case have not been taken into account," Jimenez said.
Van der Sloot is at Piedras Gordas prison north of Lima, where his lawyer says he is temporarily segregated from other inmates.
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