Midtown Blogger/Manhattan Valley Follies: Roman Polanski in the News Again- Warsaw Voice

Polanski to attend court hearing over extradition

February 18, 2015

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Roman Polanski

The Oscar-winning filmmaker Roman Polanski will attend a court hearing in the southern Polish city of Cracow next week over a US extradition request related to his 1977 conviction for having sex with minor, Polanski’s lawyer said Tuesday.

The hearing will take place on Feb. 25, Grazyna Rokita, spokeswoman for the court said.

"In line with the declaration that was made before, Mr. Roman Polanski will appear in the court," attorney Jan Olszewski said.
Poland has received the extradition request because Polanski has been visiting Poland, preparing for his new movie “An Officer and a Spy”.

The move follows another attempt by the US to have Polanski, arrested for sex offences when he visited Warsaw for the opening of the POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews in October 2014 and then travelled to his hometown Cracow. At that time Polish prosecutors rejected the US request but questioned him and obliged him to turn up on every summons.

Polanski, 81, director of such film classics like "Rosemary's Baby" and "Chinatown", has been sought by the American police since 1977 after he fled the USA before he could be sentenced for having unlawful sex with 13-year-old Samantha Geimer during a photoshoot in Los Angeles, fuelled by champagne and drugs.

In 2009 Polanski was put under house arrest in the Swiss city of Zurich when he travelled there to pick up a prize at a film festival after the US made a similar request. He was eventually freed in 2010 after Swiss authorities decided not to extradite him to the United States.

Polanski is restricted by an Interpol warrant in effect in 188 countries, but he moves freely between Switzerland and France. As a French citizen, he has been immune from US justice.
Under Polish law, if the court rules in favor of the extradition request, the justice minister can approve or reject the decision.