The Swiss justice office has rejected another appeal by Roman Polanski to be released from prison because of the high risk he would flee the country.
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Justice office spokesman Folco Galli on Friday said the fugitive filmmaker’s request had been received earlier in the week. He added that Polanski had made a “high bail” offer, but one that didn’t allay fears he would flee justice.
The 76-year-old filmmaker has been in Swiss custody since his arrest last month as he arrived in Zurich to receive an award from a film festival. He is fighting extradition to the US for having sex in 1977 with a 13-year-old girl.
The news comes a day after it was reported that 15 Californian legislators had signed a letter supporting the extradition of Polanski to Los Angeles.
State Senator Gloria Romero recently wrote the letter to Los Angeles County District Attorney Steve Cooley saying Polanski should face his past and that “no one is above the law”.
Romero said the Polanski case heightened awareness about domestic violence and its correlation to sexual assault.
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US wants Polanski extradited
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The Swiss authorities said they received the request on Thursday evening. Polanski’s legal team said the director would lodge an appeal to fight being sent back. The Franco-Polish filmmaker was arrested in Zurich on September 26 on the basis of a US warrant and taken into custody awaiting extradition. The Academy Award-winning director was detained…
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The court said in a statement Tuesday that it would make a decision on the matter “in the next weeks”, dampening expectations that he would be freed anytime soon. Any verdict is subject to appeal from both sides. The renowned Polish-French director was arrested on Saturday as he arrived in Zurich to receive a film…
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Polanski’s Paris-based lawyer, Hervé Témime, said the filmmaker was in a “fighting mood” and that he would appeal against extradition. Laurent Moreillon, a law professor at Lausanne University, says chances are slim that the director will not be sent back to the United States on decades-old child-sex charges. But, paradoxically, going before a US court…
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Roman Polanski has a long history in the cinema as both an actor and director, starting in his native Poland in the 1950s. His best known films include Rosemary’s Baby, Chinatown and The Pianist.
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If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.