Polański returns to Polish court over US extradition request
PR dla Zagranicy
Nick Hodge
22.09.2015 12:55
Director Roman Polański returned to court on Tuesday in Kraków, southern Poland, in the latest hearing concerning a US extradition request over a 1977 case of unlawful sex with a minor.
Roman Polański (C) with his lawyers Jerzym Stachowicz (L) and Jan Olszewski (R) in Kraków's District Court, 22 September. Photo: PAP/Jacek Bednarczyk
The first Kraków hearing took place in February 2015, after US authorities discovered that Polański had left his Parisian home and was attending an event in Poland, where he is planning to make his next film.
A further hearing took place in May, during which the director's lawyers submitted a documentary film, 'Roman Polański: Wanted and Desired', which they believed shed light on the original US trial.
The Polish-Jewish filmmaker, who was one of the leading directors in Hollywood thanks to films such as 'Rosemary's Baby' (1968) and 'Chinatown' (1974), fled the US in 1978 shortly before being sentenced, and he settled in Paris.
He stood accused of unlawful sex with a 13-year-old girl, Samantha Geimer. France has consistently refused to extradite him.
In 2009, Polański was arrested in Switzerland after a US request for his extradition was submitted, but Swiss authorities ultimately backed down after keeping him under house arrest for several months.
The 82-year-old director, who grew up in Kraków, began his film career in Poland and he has visited the country several times since the Swiss affair.
Regardless of the Kraków court's ultimate ruling, Poland's minister of justice maintains the right to veto the decision.
Polański is planning adaptation of Robert Harris's thriller 'An Officer and a Spy', which explores the Dreyfus Affair, a notorious miscarriage of justice in pre-World War I France. (nh/rk)