Switzerland/US/France - Polanski extradition

Swiss grant Polanski bail at 3m euros

Article published on the 2009-11-25 Latest update 2009-11-25 18:34 TU

Roman Polanski has been granted bail of 3 million euros
(Photo: Reuters/Ina Fassbender)

Film-maker Roman Polanski has been granted bail by Switzerland's top criminal court after he offered to post a bond of three million euros and go under house arrest. The court said on Wednesday it was enough to prevent his escape.

"With decision dated November 24, 2009 the Swiss Federal Criminal Court has granted Roman Polanski’s appeal against detention pending extradition," to the US for having had sex with a 13-year-old girl, the court said in a statement.

"The court considered the bail in the amount of 4.5 million Swiss francs (4.5 million US dollars, three million euros) offered by Polanski together with supporting measures - deposit of identity papers, house arrest under electronic monitoring - as being sufficient to avert the risk of flight," it said.

The Swiss Justice Ministry can file an appeal against the court's ruling within ten days. But later on Wednesday, the Justice Minister Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf told state television that she "sees no reason" to challenge the decision.

In Wednesday's ruling, the court said that the bail sum offered was a "substantial portion" of the director’s fortune.

"Regarding his advanced age in the case of loss of said bail the possibility of re-accumulation of fortune in this amount would not be certain," it said.

An earlier request to be freed on bail had been turned down with the criminal court and Swiss Justice Ministry both believing that the risk of flight was too high.

 “Polanski will justify the bail sum asked by the Swiss justice authority, and he will apparently be placed under house arrest at his residence in Gstaad, where he has a Chalet," said Polanski’s French lawyer, Georges Kiejman,

Polanski, who won an Oscar in 2003 for The Pianist, pleaded guilty in August 1977 to having unlawful sex with 13-year-old Samantha Geimer five months earlier. He was 43 at the time.

Prosecutors in California dropped other charges in exchange for his guilty plea. But Polanski fled the country before he was sentenced, after he learned the judge might not go along with the short jail term he expected to get from the plea agreement.

Polanski remained free - mostly living in France - before he was arrested in Switzerland on a 31-year-old arrest warrant.

Geimer, now 45, a married mother of three, called in January for the case to be dropped.