Roman Polanski Arrested

Leslie Cheung about 15 years ago

The Oscar-winning director, Roman Polanski, was arrested in Switzerland on Sunday night (September 27, Switzerland time) and may be extradited to USA on a warrant issued in 1978 after his guilty plea for having sex with a 13-year-old girl.

The director was arrested at the Zurich Film Festival, where he was to receive an award for lifetime achievement on Sunday.

The director was convicted of unlawful sex with an underage girl in 1977, and after it appeared that the sentencing judge was going to renege on a plea bargain that had been made, he fled the USA in 1978. American authorities issued an international search request in 2005 in relation to the 1978 warrant.

In 2008, a TV documentary Roman Polanski: Wanted And Desired suggested wrongdoings in the part of the judge. Samantha Gailey, now known as Samantha Geimer, was the woman involved in the original incident publicly expressed that she wants the matter dropped.

Roman Polanski will be in custody in Switzerland until extradition proceedings were complete.