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 Roman Polanski: Switzerland reject new higher bail offer
Imprisoned director Roman Polanski's higher bail offer has been rejected by the Swiss authorities, saying that the risk of his fleeing the country is still too high.
According to Justice Ministry spokesman Folco Galli, the offer was not made in cash and it also failed to address concerns that the seventy six-year-old would flee Switzerland as he awaits a decision on whether he will be extradited to the U.S. for having sex with a thirteen-year-old girl in 1977 .
"We still consider the flight risk as high," Galli told The Associated Press.
Polanski was arrested on September 26, when he arrived in Zurich to receive a lifetime award from a film festival. He has been in Swiss custody since then.
He is fighting extradition to the United States, where he is wanted for fleeing sentencing thirty one years ago, but has suffered a string of legal setbacks in Switzerland so far.
Galli said that Polanski filed his latest request on Monday. He now has 10 days to appeal the decision to the Swiss Criminal Court, which has already once ordered Polanski to be kept in jail despite an offer of his Gstaad apartment as collateral, and house arrest and electronic monitoring as conditions of his freedom.
A lawyer for Polanski said the filmmaker would take the new bail request to the courts. "This is absolutely what we want," said Herve Temime.
Legal experts feel Polanski has little chance of being released from prison regardless of the bail he posts because of his long history as a fugitive.
In Lausanne, the Swiss national film archive said it was organizing a "Roman Polanski evening" next week that includes a free viewing of his 1961 short film "The Fat and the Lean," alongside Charlie Chaplin's "A King in New York."
According to Lionel Baier, an organizer of the event, the November 4 screening is not an act of solidarity with Polanski or a plea for his case, rather the aim is to highlight Polanski's importance as a filmmaker. |
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