Switzerland releases Roman Polanski, will not face extradition

Bern - The Swiss Federal Department of Justice and Police have announced that Academy-Award winning filmmaker Roman Polanski will not be extradited to the United States to face imprisonment for his 1970s charge for sex with a 13-year-old girl.

In a news conference on Monday, Swiss Justice Minister Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf stated that Switzerland will not extradite Polanski to the U.S. to face sex charges because of a flaw in the U.S. extradition request application because they did not turn over specific documents, according to the Los Angeles Times. “If this were the case, Roman Polanski would actually have already served his sentence and therefore both the proceedings on which the U.S. extradition request is founded and the request itself would have no foundation,” the Swiss Justice Ministry said in a statement, reports the New York Times. The Swiss authorities are also researching to see if 42 days in prison, which Polanski served in California, was sufficient time served for having sexual intercourse with a minor. Also the U.S. did not file any extradition requests for years even with prior knowledge that Polanski had purchased a home in Zurich in 2006 and was a frequent visitor to the country. The French-born director, according to the Swiss Justice Ministry, would have not traveled to the “film festival in Zürich in September 2009 if he had not trusted that the journey would not entail any legal disadvantages for him.” In the end, Polanski “can now move freely” and as of 12:30 p.m., the legendary filmmaker is a free man.