Joran van der Sloot Update: Lawyer Demands Release Of Accused Murderer

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (CBS/WIAT/AP) Joran van der Sloot's Peruvian lawyer says authorities there should formally interrogate his client or set him free.

PICTURES: Joran van der Sloot: Natalee Holloway and Peru

The Dutchman has been imprisoned In Peru's Castro Castro prison for nine months on charges he killed 21-year-old student Stephany Flores.

Her body was found in van der Sloot's Lima hotel room. He allegedly told Peruvian authorities he killed Flores when she found material relating to Natalee Holloway on his laptop computer.

Holloway disappeared on a 2005 trip to Aruba with classmates from Mountain Brook High School in Alabama. She was last seen leaving a nightclub with van der Sloot. He was questioned several times by Aruban authorities, but never charged in her disappearance.

Flores' body was found in van der Sloot's hotel room five years to the day of Natalee's disappearance.

Van der Sloot has since appealed to have his confession thrown out claiming police irregularities, coercion and the lack of a qualified Dutch language translator.

A ruling on that appeal is still pending. Under Peruvian law, van der Sloot can be held 18 months, but according to Radio Netherlands Worldwide, lawyer Max Altez is not confident that his client will be questioned within the statutory period of custody, which is limited to 18 months.

According to CBS affiliate WIAT, van der Sloot's lawyer is blaming Peru's legal authorities for not providing a Dutch-Spanish interpreter, saying it is not up to him to arrange one. The Dutch embassy told Altez that they are not entitled to assign an interpreter to the case either.

COMPLETE COVERAGE OF JORAN VAN DER SLOOT ON CRIMESIDER