Director Roman Polanski and his attorneys were stunned by his arrest in Switzerland on Saturday on a child sex charge filed decades ago in Los Angeles, according a French newspaper report.
“We absolutely were not expecting such an arrest, in so far as he regularly goes to Switzerland, and he’s done so for several years,” lawyer Herve Temime told Le Figaro, adding that Polanski “even owns a chalet situated in the Gstaad," a Swiss ski village.
Polanski was arrested 31 years ago at a Beverly Hills hotel after a 13-year-old girl accused him of sexually assaulting her during a photo shoot at actor Jack Nicholson's house.
A 1978 arrest warrant, issued after he failed to appear at his sentencing on a statutory rape conviction, is still in effect, and he would be taken into custody upon arrival on U.S. soil. The director of “Chinatown" and “Rosemary's Baby" has not returned to the U.S. since then but continues to work as a director, winning an Oscar for “The Pianist."
Temime told Le Figaro, “At no time, up until today, has he been under an investigation by the Swiss justice [system]. Generally speaking, Roman Polanski never stopped traveling all over the world despite the existence of an American arrest warrant.”
The lawyer said that Polanski was able to inform his wife of the arrest, and that “his wife and his children were very shocked ... ; however, they remain supportive and confident.”
Temime said he would be flying to Zurich, Switzerland, tonight with Polanski’s wife to meet with Polanski’s Swiss lawyer, and plead for his release.
“We are going to argue a defense based on the extradition procedure,” he explained.
Temime said there is “a problem” with the extradition order because “the supposed victim withdrew [her claim] many years ago.”
“We absolutely were not expecting such an arrest, in so far as he regularly goes to Switzerland, and he’s done so for several years,” lawyer Herve Temime told Le Figaro, adding that Polanski “even owns a chalet situated in the Gstaad," a Swiss ski village.
Polanski was arrested 31 years ago at a Beverly Hills hotel after a 13-year-old girl accused him of sexually assaulting her during a photo shoot at actor Jack Nicholson's house.
A 1978 arrest warrant, issued after he failed to appear at his sentencing on a statutory rape conviction, is still in effect, and he would be taken into custody upon arrival on U.S. soil. The director of “Chinatown" and “Rosemary's Baby" has not returned to the U.S. since then but continues to work as a director, winning an Oscar for “The Pianist."
Temime told Le Figaro, “At no time, up until today, has he been under an investigation by the Swiss justice [system]. Generally speaking, Roman Polanski never stopped traveling all over the world despite the existence of an American arrest warrant.”
The lawyer said that Polanski was able to inform his wife of the arrest, and that “his wife and his children were very shocked ... ; however, they remain supportive and confident.”
Temime said he would be flying to Zurich, Switzerland, tonight with Polanski’s wife to meet with Polanski’s Swiss lawyer, and plead for his release.
“We are going to argue a defense based on the extradition procedure,” he explained.
Temime said there is “a problem” with the extradition order because “the supposed victim withdrew [her claim] many years ago.”
