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Polanski to challenge extradition to the US
Source: Agencies |
September 29, 2009, Tuesday
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IMPRISONED film director Roman Polanski is in a "fighting mood" and will battle United States attempts to have him extradited from Switzerland to face justice in California for having sex in 1977 with a 13-year-old girl, his lawyer said yesterday.
An international tug-of-war over the 76-year-old Oscar-winning director escalated yesterday as France and Poland urged Switzerland to free him on bail and pressed US officials all the way up to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on the case.
Polanski was in his third day of detention after Swiss police arrested him on Saturday on an international warrant as he arrived in Zurich to receive a lifetime achievement award from a film festival.
Polanski has told Swiss officials he will contest a request that he be transferred to the US, attorney Herve Temime said. Temime said Polanski's legal team would try to prove that the US request was illegal and that he should be released from Swiss custody.
"Taking into account the extraordinary conditions of his arrest, his Swiss lawyer will seek his freedom without delay," Temime said.
He said he spoke with Polanski from his Zurich cell.
"He was shocked, dumbfounded, but he is in a fighting mood and he is very determined to defend himself," Temime said.
A complicated legal process awaited all sides. While France expressed hope that Polanski would be freed shortly, Swiss officials said there would be no rash decision.
The Swiss Justice Ministry yesterday did not rule out the possibility that Polanski, director of such classic films as "Chinatown" and "Rosemary's Baby," could be released on bail under very strict conditions that he doesn't flee Switzerland.
Justice spokesman Guido Balmer said such an arrangement is "not entirely excluded" under Swiss law and that Polanski could file a motion on bail.
Authorities in Los Angeles consider Polanski a "convicted felon and fugitive."
Polanski at the time had pleaded guilty to unlawful sexual intercourse and was sent to prison for 42 days of evaluation. Lawyers agreed that would be his full sentence, but the judge tried to renege on the plea bargain.
On the day of his sentencing in 1978, aware the judge would sentence him to more prison time and require his deportation, Polanski fled to France.
In Paris, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said he hoped Polanski could be quickly freed by the Swiss, calling the apprehension a "bit sinister." Kouchner said he and his Polish counterpart Radek Sikorski wrote to Clinton on the case.
An international tug-of-war over the 76-year-old Oscar-winning director escalated yesterday as France and Poland urged Switzerland to free him on bail and pressed US officials all the way up to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on the case.
Polanski was in his third day of detention after Swiss police arrested him on Saturday on an international warrant as he arrived in Zurich to receive a lifetime achievement award from a film festival.
Polanski has told Swiss officials he will contest a request that he be transferred to the US, attorney Herve Temime said. Temime said Polanski's legal team would try to prove that the US request was illegal and that he should be released from Swiss custody.
"Taking into account the extraordinary conditions of his arrest, his Swiss lawyer will seek his freedom without delay," Temime said.
He said he spoke with Polanski from his Zurich cell.
"He was shocked, dumbfounded, but he is in a fighting mood and he is very determined to defend himself," Temime said.
A complicated legal process awaited all sides. While France expressed hope that Polanski would be freed shortly, Swiss officials said there would be no rash decision.
The Swiss Justice Ministry yesterday did not rule out the possibility that Polanski, director of such classic films as "Chinatown" and "Rosemary's Baby," could be released on bail under very strict conditions that he doesn't flee Switzerland.
Justice spokesman Guido Balmer said such an arrangement is "not entirely excluded" under Swiss law and that Polanski could file a motion on bail.
Authorities in Los Angeles consider Polanski a "convicted felon and fugitive."
Polanski at the time had pleaded guilty to unlawful sexual intercourse and was sent to prison for 42 days of evaluation. Lawyers agreed that would be his full sentence, but the judge tried to renege on the plea bargain.
On the day of his sentencing in 1978, aware the judge would sentence him to more prison time and require his deportation, Polanski fled to France.
In Paris, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said he hoped Polanski could be quickly freed by the Swiss, calling the apprehension a "bit sinister." Kouchner said he and his Polish counterpart Radek Sikorski wrote to Clinton on the case.
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