Director Roman Polanski has lost another appeal to be released from a Swiss jail ahead of his possible expatriation to the US for a sex crime committed nearly 31 years ago.
The Swiss Criminal Court said early this morning that Polanski posed a serious risk for flight and refused to allow bail or place him under house arrest. The Court made it clear that revoking Polanski’s travel papers and/or daily reporting to police were not adequate measures to prevent the film director from fleeing. This ruling means that it is more likely than ever that Polanski is going to be sent back to Los Angles, where he stands accused of having sex with a 13 year old in 1977. The Swiss court, however, did mention that Roman Polanski does have the right to petition this verdict to the country’s highest court. Polanski is also free to continue his negotiations with the Swiss Justice Minister to free him, but this sounds unlikely considering that he has been held for nearly 3 weeks.
Polanski was arrested by the Swiss authorities on Sept. 26 based on a US arrest warrant when he arrived in Zurich to receive an honor from a film event.
Roman Polanski did plead guilty in August 1977 for having unlawful sex with a 13 year old girl but fled the country before his could be sentenced. Law enforcement authorities in California have continued to seek Polanski and last month they finally got their chance. Having received a tip that Polanski would be visiting Zurich to receive an award, they filed for an arrest warrant which the Swiss complied to.
For the past 31 years, Polanski has been living a free man in France where the French did not see eye to eye with the US authorities. Polanski did agree to pay the victim close to half a million dollars to settle a same claim that was filed in 1990, according to court papers. The victim wanted money for mental suffering and pain when Polanski had sex with her. She stated that Polanski forced her to consume alcohol and Quaaludes at some point during a photo shoot at the home of Hollywood actor, Jack Nicholson.
As of today, it is not known how much money has been paid.