Published at 12:14 PM on September 28, 2009

By Emily Riemer

Roman Polanski Arrested in Switzerland

Upon arriving at Zurich's Kloten Airport on Saturday (Sept. 26) to accept a well-publicized lifetime achievement award at the Zurich Film Festival, Roman Polanski was apprehended by Swiss authorities on a 31-year-old outstanding U.S. arrest warrant.

Polanski famously fled the U.S. for Europe in 1978 on the eve of his sentencing by an L.A. County judge for unlawful sex with a minor. In 1977, Samantha Geimer, aged 13, accused Polanski of drugging, and then raping and sodomizing her at Jack Nicholson's Mulholland Drive home. The charges were eventually pled down to statutory rape, and Polanski later settled a civil suit with Geimer for an undisclosed amount. In 1969, Polanski's then-wife Sharon Tate was murdered by the Manson gang in L.A. Since 1978, Polanski has been living in Paris with his wife actress Emmanuelle Seigner and is a French citizen. He owns a ski chalet in Gstaad, Switzerland.


There has been a public outcry from many of Polanski's supporters over Saturday's arrest. British novelist Robert Harris, who has worked with the director, called the arrest "politically motivated," and continued, "I am shocked that any man of 76, whether distinguished or not, should have been treated in such a fashion."

The French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner told France-Inter Radio that he and Polish Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski have asked Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to release the Polish-born director on bail. The French Culture Minister Frederic Mitterrand told the French media that this arrest represents "a scary America that has just shown its face."

The U.S. Justice Dept. has 60 days to file a written extradition request to return Polanski to L.A. courts. If Polanski agrees to the extradition, it would occur within the next few days. If he chooses to fight the transfer, however, the Swiss legal process will be lengthy because there are multiple levels of appeals open to the director. His French attorney Herve Temime told Paris' Le Figaro that he planned to fly to Switzerland with Seigner to seek his release, suggesting that Polanski plans to fight the extradition.

Roman Polanski is best known for directing Rosemary's Baby, Chinatown and 2002's The Pianist, for which he won an Academy Award for Best Director. However, because of his arrest warrant, he was unable to attend the 2003 Oscars ceremony to accept that award.

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