Roman Polanski will not be extradited to the US from Poland

Poland will not extradite Oscar-winning filmmaker Roman Polanski to the US in an almost 40-year-old case after prosecutors declined to challenge a court ruling against it.

Prosecutors in Krakow, who had sought the extradition on behalf of the US, said that they found the court’s refusal of extradition to be “right” and said they found no grounds to appeal it.

Polanski’s lawyer, Jan Olszewski, told the Associated Press that Polanski’s reaction was of “great relief” and of satisfaction that the irregularities in the US procedure have been exposed.

Polanski spoke to his lawyer over the phone from Paris, where he lives with his family.

The decision by the prosecutors closes the case in Poland and means Polanski, 82, is free to reside and work in Poland, where he grew up and studied filmmaking, and where he is preparing to make a new movie. Preparations for the movie were stalled by the extradition request that the US made last year.

The director pleaded guilty in 1977 to one count of unlawful sexual intercourse with a 13-year-old girl during a photo shoot in LA. In a deal with the judge, he served more than a month in prison, but then fled the US, fearing the judge would have him imprisoned for much longer.

The US has been seeking to bring Polanski back and put him before a court.