Director Roman Polanski in Swiss custody over 31 year old U.S. charges

After being considered a fugitive by the U.S. government since 1978, Roman Polanski has been detained in Zurich on charges of unlawful sexual intercourse with a 13-year-old girl, 31 years later. Polanski, a holocaust survivor, has lived for the past three decades in France, where his career has continued to flourish.  The Chinatown and Rosemary’s Baby director won an Oscar  in absentia for The Pianist in 2002 and was in Zurich to receive a lifetime achievement award when he was detained by Swiss police at the request of U.S. authorities. Festival organizers said Polanski’s detention had caused “shock and dismay,” but that they would go ahead with Sunday’s planned retrospective of the director’s work.

The 76-year-old director recently sought dismissal of his case on grounds of misconduct by the now-deceased judge who had arranged a plea bargain and then reneged on it .Polanski, who maintained the girl was sexually experienced and had consented, spent 42 days in prison undergoing psychiatric tests but fled the country before being sentenced. His U.S. visa has since been withdrawn.