Polanski questioned over US extradition request

In 2009, the director was arrested in Zurich on a 31-year-old US warrant.


Reuters October 31, 2014

KRAKOW: Polish prosecutors said on Thursday they had interviewed filmmaker Roman Polanski in connection with a US extradition request over a 1977 sex crime conviction, but decided not to detain him, the Polish state news agency reported.

Polanski presented himself at the district prosecutor’s office in the southern Polish city of Krakow where he was questioned over the request, PAP news agency quoted prosecution spokesman Mateusz Martyniuk as saying.

“Roman Polanski stated that he is putting himself at the disposal of the prosecutor’s office in this case, and gave his place of residence,” the spokesman was quoted as saying.

“In connection with this, the prosecutor deemed it not necessary to proceed with the arrest of Roman Polanski in relation to the possible request for his extradition.”

Polanski’s lawyer could not immediately be reached for comment.

Polanski, director of classics such as Rosemary’s Baby and Chinatown, is planning to shoot a film in Krakow, a city where he spent part of his childhood.

The filmmaker pleaded guilty in 1977 to having unlawful sex with 13-year-old Samantha Geimer during a photoshoot in Los Angeles, fueled by champagne and drugs.

Polanski served 42 days in jail as part of a 90-day plea bargain in 1977. He fled the United States the following year, believing the judge hearing his case could overrule the deal and put him in jail for years.

In 2009, Polanski was arrested in the Swiss city of Zurich on a 31-year-old US warrant and placed under house arrest. He was freed in 2010 after Swiss authorities decided not to extradite him to the United States. 

Published in The Express Tribune, November 1st, 2014.

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