Greta Van Susteren says she was not allowed to speak at Joran van der Sloot’s hearing for the extortion of Natalee Holloway’s mother.

The television personality has long been a friend of Beth Holloway, who Susteren said asked her to speak at the sentencing of the Dutch national from Aruba and long-time suspect in the 2005 disappearance and death of the Mountain Brook teen.

Van der Sloot was in a Birmingham courtroom today where he pleaded guilty to extortion of Beth Holloway. As part of the plea, he confessed to killing Natalee.

Susteren, who has followed the case extensively, said in a tweet her request to address the court as part of the hearing was denied.

“I was told late last night that the federal judge in Alabama, despite Beth Holloway’s request that I speak at the sentencing of Joran van der Sloot, has denied the request; why doesn’t the judge, at such an important time, not want to have ALL the information in sentencing – she also is not getting a pre-sentence report.”

Court documents show the judge only considered statements from Beth Holloway and members of Natalee’s immediate family.

In the ruling, the judge noted that while “crimes victimize all members of the public…including the targeted victim’s family, friends and professional colleagues.

“But that does not necessarily mean that each and all those affected persons are automatically “victims” within the specific meaning of the Crime Victims’ Rights Act, with an entitlement to submit a written or oral victim impact statement for the court to consider.”

Van der Sloot, 36, was sentenced to a 20-year sentence on each of the Holloway charges.

He will serve those sentences concurrently and also concurrently with a 28-year prison sentence Van der Sloot is serving in Peru for the 2010 murder of Lima college student Stephany Flores. Flores was killed five years to the day Natalee disappeared.