Polanski’s film debuts in Berlin
GENEVA, FRIDAY WAS a banner day for director Roman Polanski: His new film premiered in Berlin and Swiss authorities pledged not to extradite him to the US as long as his appeal on a sex case was still being considered in Los Angeles. Compared to
the last four months being under arrest in Switzerland, it was a win-win.
Polanski could not walk the red carpet at the Berlin film festival on Friday night for the debut of his movie The Ghost Writer, starring Ewan McGregor and Pierce Brosnan, because he is under house arrest. But he was still the star of the party, feted by the movie’s actors, producer and screenplay writer.
And in a new twist to his long legal saga, the Swiss justice ministry declared it would make "no sense" to shift Polanski from house arrest at his Alpine chalet until US courts ruled definitively that he must be sentenced in person to further jail time for having sex in 1977 with a 13-year-old girl. "When the question is still open, why should he be extradited?" Rudolf Wyss, the ministry’s deputy director, told the Associated Press. "As long as the question is still open, our decision depends on that."
"Even if we decide on extradition, he can still appeal. This would take many months," Wyss added.
BRADLEY S. KLAPPER
—AP
Post new comment