Dutch/Aruban Law

What the hell is going on in Aruba?

I feel sorry for the parents of Natalee's mother, but I also feel for the parents of the accused!

Under Dutch law in Aruba it seems that the government can hold suspects without any charge or evidence against them for half a year! This seems incredible to me.

This coupled with the lack of trial by jury makes me wonder, what's going on down there?

I am just so sick of these talking heads on TV condemning this boy and they have no idea what happened

It seems no one in the government is saying anything, but that doesn't mean the press should fabricate news.

I can't say I agree or understand their laws but it is not our country. I think the real issue is either they do not have a clue what happnended to this girl and they are trying to looking like they are being active or they already know she is dead and are afraid to say something.

I mean come on already, murder occurs in every country, why would they think that tourism would be affected by that? The longer the story goes on and the more attention, now that is what is going to kill their tourism as they are beginning to look like that abbot and costello movie..........Who's on First????

I'm no expert on law, but yes.... In Arubian or Dutch law you can hold someone without charges for a long time. But it goes in periods. First they can hold a person for up to 48 for questioning. And make use of it.

After that there are periods that a detained person must appear in court for the judge to decide if the detainee can be released, or if the detention must be prolonged.. This is based on the current evidence of course.

That's how it goes. As far as I know, bail doesn't exist here in Aruba. Look at major league picture Sidney Ponson six months ago. If there was bail, he wouldn't been held for up to two hours after his arrest. They had him in jail for 8 days.

And there are enviromental circumstances here which can cause a body to be lost for ever. Even if Natalee just drowned; just an accident; the water current can be so strong at times that it would be able to carry her out into the ocean in no time... Without anyone knowing.

Furthermore, our police force has never worked under such intense media pressure before. It's like the media is constantly breathing in their neck. So it could be possible that mistakes were made because of this. One police officer (who is a friend of mine) admitted to me about two weeks ago that they were already sick of the Natalee Holloway case. So they want this thing over and done with as fast as possible so the media can go breathe in someone else's necks.