French daily Le Figaro on Thursday night published on its Web site a Q&A with Roman Polanski‘s attorney, Herve Temime.
The lawyer says despite the Dec. 10 court date in Los Angeles, Polanski will not accept being extradited to the U.S.
On Dec. 10, lawyers for Polanski are scheduled to argue for the dismissal of the director’s conviction in the 1977 sexual assault case that led to his arrest in Switzerland in September.
A three-judge panel will hear the arguments that will attempt to overturn a lower court ruling in May, where a judge dismissed the case on the grounds of Polanski’s absence.
Temime told Le Figaro, “We maintain that Roman Polanski has already served his sentence by submitting himself to psychological tests in 1978 which were carried out in prison over 42 days. Further, we refer to the statute of limitations, which, even if it isn’t brought up by the extradition convention between Switzerland and the US, undoubtedly arises under the general principals of law. We also maintain that Mr. Polanski was not subject to a fair trial in Los Angeles. For all of these reasons and others, his position is firm: He will not accept to be extradited to the US.”
Temime, however, allows that Polanski is doing OK in prison. “He is being well treated by high-quality penitentiary personnel. But we do hope that his request to be released will be accepted soon.”
An appeal request to be released on bail was denied on October 20 following an earlier government ruling that Polanski posed a flight risk. The case will now move to Switzerland’s Federal Supreme Court which on Tuesday said it was likely to rule in two to three weeks.
