Roman Polanski: Polish court will not grant U.S. extradition request

Earlier this year, a renewed effort was made to have filmmaker Roman Polanski extradited to the United States from Poland to finally face justice for his 1977 conviction for having sex with an underaged girl. But, for now, those efforts have been halted.

The New York Times reports that a Polish judge has denied the United States’ request to have Polanski extradited, citing doubts over whether California would be able to properly and humanely imprison a man of Polanski’s age (82) and the “‘obviously unlawful’ deprivation of liberty” the decision would show.

“I do not find any logical, rational explanation as to why the U.S. is pursuing the extradition,” Judge Dariusz Mazur said of the decision, which was made at a hearing which Polanski did not attend. Polanski’s lawyers argued that the victim in the original case did not desire jail time for the director, and that the original trial’s judge violated Polanski’s legal rights.

As the Times notes, the threat of extradition could still loom if prosecutors decide to appeal the decision, and this is not the first time Polanski has faced the possibility of extradition decades since he fled the U.S. in 1978 after he feared his negotiated guilty plea would leave to a lengthy jail sentence.

The victim in the case wrote on her Facebook page that, “If they were smart, they’d stop trying to bring him back. If they ever do, the truth about the corruption in the DA’s office and Court will finally be known. I suppose it’s a little to late to see those responsible face the music.”

Last year, Polanski lost his bid to have the original, almost 40-year-old case dismissed after alleging judicial misconduct.

For more on the decision, head over to The New York TImes‘ full report.