Swiss authorities denied a request to release film director Roman Polanski on bail after he was arrested in September after fleeing sentencing for having unlawful sex with a 13-year-old girl in 1977, a government spokesperson said on Tuesday.
”In our view, there is still a very high risk that he will flee and that a release on bail or other measures after a release cannot guarantee Polanski’s presence in the extradition procedure,” Justice Ministry spokesperson Folco Galli said.
The justice office asked a Swiss Penal Court to reject Polanski’s appeal to be released, Galli said.
Galli confirmed that Washington has yet to file a formal request seeking extradition ahead of a late November deadline, but he said the US probably wouldn’t need its entire 60-day period to submit all documents.
”I assume this is a priority case in the United States,” Galli said.
Former Zurich prosecutor Dieter Jann said extradition would be hard to fight, and he thought Switzerland had followed procedures correctly.
Another former prosecutor Peter Cosandey said earlier that Polanski was unlikely to be released because he is not a permanent resident and had already jumped bail years ago in the US.
The 76-year-old Oscar-winning director, who holds dual French and Polish citizenship, was arrested at the request of the United States when he flew into Switzerland on September 26 to receive a lifetime achievement prize at a film festival.
Authorities in Los Angeles consider him a convicted felon and a fugitive, and Switzerland says there has been an international warrant out on him since 2005.
Polanski was accused of plying the underage girl with champagne and part of a Quaalude pill during a modelling shoot in 1977, and raping her. He was initially indicted on six felony counts, including rape by use of drugs, child molesting and sodomy.
He pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of unlawful sexual intercourse. In exchange, the judge agreed to drop the remaining charges and sentence him to prison for a 90-day psychiatric evaluation.
However, he was released after 42 days by an evaluator who deemed him mentally sound and unlikely to offend again.
The judge responded by saying he was going to send Polanski back to jail for the remainder of the 90 days and that afterward he would ask Polanski to agree to a ”voluntary deportation”. Polanski then fled the country, on February 1 1978, the day he was scheduled to be sentenced to the additional time. — Reuters, Sapa-AP