Poland Wants to Revive Roman Polanski Extradition Proceedings

Poland’s Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro says that he plans to appeal a decision not to extradite film director Roman Polanski to the U.S., where he faces a sentence for statutory rape.

A Krakow court ruled in October that Polanski’s extradition was “inadmissable.” Polish prosecutors said they would not challenge the prosecution at the time, but Ziobro, who is also the country’s prosecutor general, says he will make the fresh appeal in Supreme Court, reports the BBC.

The director, who has Polish and French citizenship, has spent many years living in France, which does not extradite its citizens. He fled the U.S. in 1978, ahead of his final sentence for pleading guilty to the statutory rape of a 13-year-old girl.

After putting Polanski under house arrest for over half a year, Switzerland in 2010 also turned down a U.S. extradition warrant in 2010.