US seeking Polanski’s extradition from Poland

Filmmaker convicted of 1977 sex crime set to shoot a movie in the country

By JTA 8 January 2015, 4:43 am

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Polish-French film director Roman Polanski holds his best director award during the 39th French Cesar Awards Ceremony in Paris, Friday Feb. 28, 2014. (photo credit: AP/Lionel Cironneau, File)

The United States is again seeking to extradite convicted filmmaker Roman Polanski — this time from Poland — over a 1977 sex crime conviction.

Polish officials informed media outlets on Wednesday that they had received an extradition request from Los Angeles prosecutors and that Polanski would likely be brought in for questioning by local authorities in Krakow.

Polanski, 81, the son of Polish Jews and a Holocaust survivor, is a Polish citizen, and a spokesman for the Polish prosecutor-general told The Associated Press that Poland as a rule does not extradite its citizens.

In October, Polish authorities refused a US request to arrest Polanski, whose lawyers subsequently asked for a new hearing in the United States in an attempt to have the charges dropped. The request was refused by a California judge.

Judges and prosecutors in the case have insisted repeatedly that Polanski return to the United States for any rehearing of the case, a demand that Polanski has long resisted.

Polanski is planning to shoot a film in Poland in the coming months about the Dreyfus affair.

He fled to France in 1978 after being pleading guilty to unlawful sex with a minor, a 13-year-old girl. The US has sought his extradition from France and Switzerland.