Poland revives effort to extradite Roman Polanski to U.S.

Reporting from London â€”  Efforts to extradite filmmaker Roman Polanski to the United States to face sentencing on child sex charges were given a new boost on Tuesday by Poland’s justice minister, who said the director shouldn’t get special treatment because of his celebrity.

Zbigniew Ziobro, who is also the country’s prosecutor general, announced he would appeal an earlier court decision in Krakow not to send the Oscar winner to California. Ziobro said he believes Polanski’s fame has protected him from being held accountable for his crime.

“If he was just a regular guy, a teacher, doctor, plumber, decorator, then I’m sure he’d have been deported from any country to the U.S. a long time ago,� Ziobro told Polish state radio, according to the Reuters news agency.This is the latest twist in a 40-year legal battle that began when the director, who is now 82, was arrested in 1977 and pleaded guilty to having sex with a 13-year-old girl during a photo shoot.

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He served 42 days in jail for psychological testing but fled the United States to Europe on the eve of his sentencing, fearful the judge planned to give him extra prison time.

A 40-year legal battle has ensued. The Los Angeles County district attorney’s office maintains that Polanski is a fugitive and must return to California.

An attempt was made to have him extradited from Switzerland after he was arrested at a film festival and placed under house arrest.

When that failed, U.S. authorities sought to secure his extradition with the help of Polish authorities. In October, a court in Krakow said that Polanski’s extradition to the U.S. would be an “obviously unlawful� abuse of his liberty and was forbidden under Polish law.

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It also questioned whether the U.S. would provide him with humane enough conditions while he was incarcerated. In November, prosecutors said they had no plans to object.

But Ziobro, who took office at the end of last year, after the ruling, and is a member of the country’s new conservative government, now seeks to challenge that. In a statement issued on Tuesday, he announced that he had appealed to Poland’s Supreme Court to annul the October ruling.

Ziobro said in a statement that under the terms of a Polish-U.S. extradition agreement, Polanski, the director of “Chinatown� and “Rosemary’s Baby� among other films, “should be handed over to the United States.�

Any time he spent behind bars or under house arrest is “not a punishment for the crime of which he has been accused,� the minister said.

Polanski, who holds Polish and French citizenship, lives in Paris but makes frequent trips to Poland, where he owns property. He was last seen there last week at a press event.

Polanski’s Polish lawyer said that his client was aware of these new developments and they were not unexpected.

“The court’s verdict stands and Mr. Polanski is a free man,� Jan Olszewski told the Associated Press. “But I cannot exclude that this situation will affect his decisions as to visiting Poland.�

Boyle is a special correspondent

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