Film-Maker Polanski Arrested in Switzerland with sex charge

Film director Roman Polanski was arrested in Switzerland on a 1978 U.S. arrest warrant for unlawful sex with a 13-year-old when whose turbulent life has come close to resembling the violent.The 76-year-old was flying in to receive an award at the Zurich Film Festival.Polanski fled the U.S. in 1978, a year after pleading guilty to unlawful sexual intercourse with the girl.The statement Sunday said Polanski will not be sent to the U.S. until extradition proceedings are completed. Polanski can contest his detention and any extradition decision in the Swiss courts.

Polish-born film director Roman Polanski during the burial ceremony for French film maker Claude Berri in Montrouge, outside Paris, in this Jan. 15, 2009 file photo. Organizers of the Zurich Film Festival say director Roman Polanski has been taken into custody on a 31-year-old U.S. arrest warrant. The organizers say Polanski was detained by police Saturday Sept. 26, 2009. (AP Photo/Michel Euler, File)

Polanski, 76, had been due to receive a prize for his life's work at the Zurich Film Festival on Sunday evening, opening a retrospective of his film career but was arrested on arrival at Zurich airport on Saturday night.

Calling Polanski, who won Best Director Oscar for "The Pianist" in 2003, one of the greatest film directors of our time, the festival directors said they had "received this news with great consternation and shock."

Polanski's Los Angeles agent and the U.S. embassy in Zurich were not immediately available for comment.

Zurich Cantonal Police spokesman Stefan Oberlin said Polanski's arrest had been carried out on instructions from the Federal Justice Department in Berne.

Polanski was arrested in the United States in the late 1970s and charged with giving drugs and alcohol to a 13-year-old girl and having unlawful sex with her at a photographic shoot at Jack Nicholson's Hollywood home.

Maintaining the girl was sexually experienced and had consented, Polanski spent 42 days in prison undergoing psychiatric tests but fled the country before being sentenced.

Considered by U.S. authorities as a fugitive from justice, Polanski, whose films include "Rosemary's Baby" and "Chinatown," has lived in France avoiding countries that have extradition treaties with the United States.

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