Polanski says Poland unlikely to extradite him to US
Fugitive Jewish director, accused of raping an underage girl, says he ‘trusts’ the country’s justice system
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Filmmaker Roman Polanski said Thursday he doubts Poland will agree to extradite him to the United States for sentencing on charges he raped a 13-year-old girl in 1977.
The 81-year-old French-Polish director spoke a day after Polish prosecutors questioned him in the context of an extradition request filed by the US earlier this month.
Polish prosecutors said Thursday they would “soon” file a court motion, but did not say whether it would be to dismiss or accept the extradition bid.
“If they decide to extradite, I’ll have problems, but I don’t think it will happen,” Polanski told reporters in the southern Polish city of Krakow.
The director of “The Pianist,” “Chinatown” and “Rosemary’s Baby” cited by way of explanation the time he was arrested in Switzerland on an international warrant in 2009 and released after nine months under house arrest.
“Considering the Swiss experience, I know it (extradition) shouldn’t be possible. I hope everything will go as expected,” Polanski said.
He added that he “trusts” Poland’s justice system and would comply with the legal proceedings.
Polish authorities have said extradition is possible. However, the justice ministry would still need to give the final go-ahead were the court to approve the US request.
The latest extradition bid comes months after the US attempted to have Polanski arrested for sexual offences when he traveled to Warsaw for the opening of a Jewish museum in October.
Polanski, who became a French citizen in 1976 after moving there from Poland, said he would begin shooting a new film in Warsaw in July.
1899-1900. (photo credti: Dreyfus Family Collection)
The movie will be about France’s Dreyfus Affair, the case of an army captain wrongly convicted in 1894 of espionage and treason. His ordeal has become a symbol of injustice and anti-Semitism.
Polanski was accused of raping Samantha Geimer, who was then 13, after a photo shoot in Los Angeles in 1977 when he was 43.
He pleaded guilty to unlawful sex with a minor, or statutory rape, avoiding a trial, but then fled the country fearing a hefty sentence.
US officials have pressed for his extradition regularly to no avail.
Polanski’s lawyers had requested a new hearing to try to close the case on procedural grounds, but a Los Angeles judge refused the move last month.
The Times of Israel Community.