New Poland bid to send Roman Polanski to US on rape charge

Poland’s justice minister is reviving an effort to have filmmaker Roman Polanski extradited to the US, where he is wanted in a nearly 40-year-old case.

Zbigniew Ziobro’s office said he asked Poland’s supreme court to annul a ruling in October by a court that Polish law forbids Polanski’s extradition.

Mr Ziobro, who took office late last year as part of a new conservative government, argues that celebrity status is shielding Polanski in Poland.

Polanski, who has Polish and French citizenship, lives in Paris but often visits Poland.

The director pleaded guilty in 1977 to one count of unlawful sexual intercourse with a 13-year-old girl during a photo shoot in Los Angeles.

In a deal with the judge, he served 42 days in prison, but then fled the US.

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

The Krakow court’s decision was at odds with a Polish-US extradition agreement, Mr Ziobro’s office argued in a statement.

It said that, “according to the extradition agreement, the defendant should be handed over to the United States”.

Polanski’s movements are restricted by an Interpol warrant in effect in 188 countries, but he has avoided extradition by travelling only between France, Poland, and Switzerland, which in 2011 rejected a US request to extradite Polanski.

Mr Ziobro’s move could make Poland a risky destination for him.