Roman Polanski: Furore over arrest

Roman Polanski: Furore over arrest

Polish-French filmmaker Roman Polanski, who was convicted of "unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor" in 1977, has been arrested in Switzerland. His arrest has created a furore in France.

After landing at Zürich Airport, Polanski was arrested by Swiss police on September 26, 2009. He was supposed to attend the Zurich Film Festival to receive a Lifetime Achievement Award. Organisers of the festival said that they are shocked by his arrest.

Support from the movie industry for the Oscar winning filmmaker grew as top film directors declared themselves "astonished" at his arrest.

Polanski, who achieved global acclaim for movies like as "Rosemary's Baby", "Chinatown" and "The Pianist", initially admitted guilt in 1977 and spent a short time in prison. He then fled to France and took French nationality and has since lived in France, where he is protected from extradition.

French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner protested formally to both the US and Swiss authorities against Polanski's arrest in Zurich. He said that the case was a "bit sinister" adding he had asked the United States to drop the charges.

Swiss authorities said that they were awaiting an extradition request from the United States over the case in which he admitted having sex with a 13 year old girl. The victim has since joined defence lawyers in urging for the case to be dismissed.

Los Angeles prosecutors confirmed on Monday that they would file a warrant seeking Polanski's return to the United States, noting they had 40 days to prepare it.

Herve Temime, Polanski's French lawyer, said that the filmmaker rejected any prospect of extradition.

Temime issued a statement, saying, "Given the extravagant circumstances of his arrest, his Swiss lawyer will ask without delay for him to be released, possibly under certain conditions".

French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said that he was working with Polish counterpart Radek Sikorski to help Polanski and that they had jointly written to US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to ask for the charges to be dropped.

Roman Polanski thanked the people who have shown support for him.