Film director Roman Polanski, arrested in Switzerland over a US charge of having sex with a 13-year-old girl in 1977, will fight extradition to the United States, his lawyer said on Monday. Polanski, 76, who has dual French and Polish citizenship, was detained on Saturday after arriving to receive a lifetime achievement award at the Zurich Film Festival.
"He is in fighting mood and determined to defend himself," Herve Temime, Polanski's lawyer, told France Info radio, adding his client was stunned by the arrest as he was a regular visitor to Switzerland, with a chalet at the ski resort of Gstaad. "We have begun by requesting his release, which should be done today in principle," Temime said. "There is no reason in law, or regarding the facts or in terms of the most basic justice to keep Roman Polanski a single day in prison."
Polanski was initially arrested in the United States in 1977 and charged with giving drugs and alcohol to a minor, Samantha Geimer, and having unlawful sex with her. Geimer of Hawaii has since said Polanski should not face any jail time.
French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner spoke to his Swiss counterpart Micheline Calmy-Rey to discuss the case, a Swiss ministry spokesman said. Kouchner also told French radio on Monday he was working with Poland on the matter and had written to US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. During a visit to Paris on Monday, Swiss Economy Minister Doris Leuthard said the country had no choice but to enforce an international arrest warrant against Polanski.
"The Americans strongly believe that the arrest of Mr Polanski is necessary. That's for them to decide. Switzerland is simply a state where the police functions and where we treat all people in the same way," she told a news conference. Leuthard rejected suggestions Berne had arrested Polanski to help patch up ties strained by a high-profile US tax case against Swiss bank UBS, which agreed a settlement over charges it helped wealthy Americans stash assets in secret accounts. "The two things have absolutely no connection," she said.
The US authorities have up to 60 days to make a firm extradition request, but Polanski can appeal to the Swiss Federal Penal Court of Justice. A spokeswoman for the court said it had not yet received any request on the Polanski case. Wearing red badges reading "Free Polanski", the Zurich Film Festival jury accused Switzerland of "philistine collusion".