Polanski defence call for probe into case

The legal team for filmmaker Roman Polanksi have called for a thorough investigation into alleged judicial misconduct in his 1977 sex crime case in the United States.

Switzerland turned down a US request to extradite him on Monday, saying the US failed to clarify whether a plea deal made in the original court case showed he had served out his sentence.

“That evidence was not insignificant and the failure to produce it [to Switzerland] was neither accidental nor a ‘technicality’ as some have said,” Polanski’s Los Angeles defence team stated on Tuesday.

They said an investigation into the misconduct allegations should be carried out by a “fair and impartial third party” and the results should be made public.

Samantha Geimer, the victim in the Polanksi case, said on Tuesday that she hoped the matter would now be closed. She has repeatedly asked for the case to be dropped.

Polanski pleaded guilty to having unlawful sex with Geimer – then aged 13 – in 1977 but he fled the US before sentencing, saying he believed the judge would renege on a plea agreement under which the 42 days he had spent in detention for psychiatric assessment would constitute his full sentence.

The argument over the reported plea deal and the allegations of judicial misconduct in the original case have been the focus of years of legal wrangling in California courts.

Polanksi was freed from Swiss house arrest on Monday. He had been detained at his Gstaad chalet since December after being picked up entering Switzerland to attend a film festival.

swissinfo.ch and agencies