Polanski asks court to free him

ZURICH (AP) — Lawyers for Roman Polanski filed a motion in court Tuesday asking that the director be released from Swiss custody — the first step in his legal battle to avoid extradition to the United States for a 1977 statutory rape case.

The Swiss Federal Criminal Court announced the filing and said “the decision will be made within the next weeks.” That statement meant the 76-year-old filmmaker is not expected to be freed anytime soon from prison, as he would stay incarcerated through the verdict and through any appeal from either side.

That criminal court will decide on the legality of the American request for Polanski’s apprehension, Swiss Justice Ministry spokesman Guido Balmer told The Associated Press on Tuesday. He noted that the Justice Ministry and Polanski could later seek to overturn any decision at the Federal Tribunal, Switzerland’s highest court.

“We will examine the ruling and then decide what we will do,” Balmer said, declining to speculate on if or when Polanski could get out of jail.

The motion filed by the director’s newly hired Swiss lawyers for his release was accompanied by proposals for bail and “guarantees,” Polanski’s French lawyer Herve Temime said. He would not elaborate on those, but added that house arrest at the directors’ Swiss chalet in Gstaad was one option.

“Our first concern, and principle concern, is that Mr. Polanski be set free” from jail while “remaining on Swiss territory,” Temime told reporters in Paris. “He has a chalet in Switzerland. He would naturally accept to be placed under house arrest during the follow-up of the extradition proceedings.”

The Swiss Justice Ministry did not rule out the possibility that Polanski could be released on bail under very strict conditions that he doesn’t flee Switzerland, but said house arrest had never happened before in a case such as this.

“In most cases, the imprisoned person has to remain in detention for the whole process,” said Peter Cosandey, a former Zurich prosecutor specializing in international criminal cooperation.

“The chances that he will be exempted from prison are rather small,” he added, because Polanski isn’t a Swiss citizen or a permanent resident and is considered at high risk of fleeing justice.

Polanski, director of “Chinatown,” “Rosemary’s Baby” and the Oscar-winning “The Pianist” was arrested Saturday as he arrived in Zurich to receive a lifetime achievement award from a film festival.

Authorities in Los Angeles consider Polanski a convicted felon and fugitive, and a Swiss justice official said there has been an international arrest warrant out on him since 2005.

The director had pleaded guilty to unlawful sexual intercourse in 1977 with a 13-year-old girl. He was sent to prison for 42 days, but the judge tried to renege on the plea bargain. On the day of his sentencing in 1978, aware the judge would sentence him to more prison time, Polanski fled to France.

Under Swiss law, the United States has 60 days to file a formal extradition request. That is first examined by the Swiss Justice Ministry, and once approved, it can be appealed at a number of courts.