Polanski vows to contest US extradition from Swiss jail

Published on Monday 28 September 2009 22:45

A DEFIANT Roman Polanski yesterday vowed to fight attempts to extradite him from a Swiss jail cell to be sentenced for having sex with an under-age girl 32 years ago.

The furore over the Polish-born director escalated as France and Poland urged Switzerland to free him on bail and pressed US secretary of state Hillary Clinton on the case.

Polanski, 76, who has dual French-Polish citizenship, was in his third day of detention after police arrested him on Saturday on an international warrant as he arrived in Zurich to receive a lifetime achievement award at a film festival.

Polanski has told Swiss officials that he will contest a US request that he be transferred to the United States, his French lawyer Herv Temime said.

Mr Temime said Polanski's legal team would try to prove that the US request was illegal and should be released from Swiss custody.

He said he had spoken with Polanski from his Zurich cell. "He was shocked, dumbfounded, but he is in a fighting mood and he is very determined to defend himself," Mr Temime said.

The Swiss justice ministry did not rule out the possibility that Polanski could be released on bail under the strict condition that he did not leave Switzerland.

Authorities in Los Angeles consider the director a "convicted felon and fugitive".