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Polanski's Extradition Won't Happen Until Next Year, Say Officials
AP Photo/Abdeljalil Bounhar
Here in Los Angeles, the County DA's office has long-hoped to bring director Roman Polanski back to face the sentencing he evaded by fleeing the country back in 1978, however the Swiss government indicated today that they "won't begin the extradition process [...] until sometime next year," reports LA Now.A spokesman for the Justice Ministry in Switzerland, where Polanski was arrested three months ago, announced today that we can expect no more action on the process in 2009, and "At the earliest, [they]'ll make an announcement early next year as to whether the criteria for extradition have been met."
Not surprisingly, Polanski has said he will fight the extradition "and legal experts say it could be a long process." Recently his victim, the now 39-year-old Samantha Geimer with whom admitted to having sex with when she was 13, has re-asserted her wish to have authorities drop the case against the 77-year-old director. Having paid $4.5 million in bail, Polanski was recently released from jail and permitted to live under house arrest in a chalet in the Swiss resort town of Gstaad. He is prepping his next film, The Ghost, for a February premiere at the Berlin Film Festival.
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