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Roman Polanski arrested in Zurich

submitted by nomino

1 decade 4 years 6 months 3 weeks ago

Reuters
DIRECTOR Roman Polanski, whose turbulent life has on occasion come close to resembling the violent, perverse world of his movies, was arrested in Zurich on a 1978 US arrest warrant for sex with a 13-year-old girl.
Polanski, 76, had been due to receive a prize for his life's work at the Zurich Film Festival yesterday, opening a retrospective of his distinguished film career but was arrested after arriving in Switzerland on Saturday night.

Calling Polanski, who won Best Director Oscar for The Pianist in 2003, one of the greatest film directors of our time, festival organisers said they had "received this news with great consternation and shock".

French Culture Minister Frederic Mitterrand was "stunned" to hear about Polanski's arrest, his office said, adding President Nicolas Sarkozy was following the case and hoped the matter could be resolved allowing Polanski to return to his family.

"We are going to try to lift the arrest warrant in Zurich ... the (extradition) convention between Switzerland and the United States is not very clear," Polanski's lawyer, Georges Kiejman, said.

Zurich Cantonal Police spokesman Stefan Oberlin said the arrest of Polanski, who holds French citizenship, was carried out on instruction from the Federal Justice Department in Berne.

Polanski was arrested in the US in the late 1970s and charged with giving drugs and alcohol to a 13-year-old girl and having unlawful sex with her at a photographic shoot at Jack Nicholson's Hollywood home.

Maintaining the girl was sexually experienced and had consented, Polanski spent 42 days in prison undergoing psychiatric tests but fled the country before being sentenced.

Considered by US authorities as a fugitive from justice, Polanski, whose films include Rosemary's Baby and Chinatown, has lived in France, avoiding countries that have extradition treaties with the United States.

"Both the extradition arrest warrant and any extradition decision can be challenged in the Federal Penal Court," the Swiss Federal Justice Department said, adding these decisions could in turn be taken further to Switzerland's Federal Court of Justice.