ZURICH – Lawyers for Oscar-winning film director Roman Polanski lodged an appeal with a Swiss court yesterday against his arrest on a US extradition warrant to face sentence for having sex with a 13-year-old girl in 1977.
The Swiss federal penal court said on its website that it would make a decision on the appeal within the “next few weeks” after an exchange of written motions and would not give more information on the case in the meantime.
Polanski (76), who has dual French and Polish citizenship, was arrested on Saturday on a US warrant by authorities in Switzerland, where the Chinatown director had been set to receive a lifetime achievement award at the Zurich film festival.
His Swiss lawyer, Lorenz Erni, said Polanski would fight the extradition, and that while the filmmaker was fine, the detention was very tough for him. Mr Erni declined to comment on how long Polanski might remain in prison.
A Swiss justice ministry spokesman said on Monday it was theoretically possible that Polanski could be released on bail, although that was very unlikely. – (Reuters)