Polanski trades jail for luxury house arrest
Roman Polanski is expected to trade the confines of a Swiss jail this week for house arrest in a luxury chalet with a view of the Alps, where he will await a Swiss decision whether to extradite him to the US on child sex charges.
Polanski has been in Swiss custody since being arrested on September 26 on a US warrant as he arrived in Zurich to receive a lifetime achievement award at a film festival.
He is wanted in the US for having sex in 1977 with a 13-year-old girl. Authorities in Los Angeles want him sentenced after 31 years as a fugitive.
The film director’s three-storey stucco and wood home on the edge of Gstaad has its own garden and he will be allowed to host parties. And a local official has said he may take steps protect Polanski from the media scrum.
The biggest drawback for Polanski will be that he will be unable to leave the 19,000-square-foot property without losing £2.7m (€2.96m) in bail.
“He will have no prison regime,” said Swiss justice ministry spokesman Falco Galli. “He is completely free to determine his daily schedule. It’s also up to him to get in food and other supplies.”
Swiss officials say they still think there is a high risk Polanski will try to flee, even though he will be wearing an electronic monitoring device that will detect any attempt to leave the property.
The arrival of the bail money in Switzerland appeared to be the main remaining obstacle to the transfer from prison, which could happen as soon as today, according to Mr Galli.
No special police protection will be provided, either to make sure Polanski remains or to keep spectators and others away, Mr Galli said. He said Polanski could call the police or a security firm if he felt threatened.
Mr Galli said Polanski will be able to go outside to check the mail or entertain guests in the garden and will be able to telephone and send emails, work on his films and have parties. Phone conversations will not be monitored.
Polanski was initially accused of raping the girl after plying her with champagne and a Quaalude pill during a modelling shoot in 1977. He was indicted on six felony counts, including rape by use of drugs, child molestation and sodomy, but he pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of unlawful sexual intercourse.
In exchange, the judge agreed to drop the remaining charges and sent him to prison for a 90-day psychiatric evaluation. The evaluator released Polanski after 42 days, but the judge said he was going to send him back to serve out the 90 days.
Polanski fled the US on February 1, 1978, the day he was to be formally sentenced. He has lived since then in France, which does not extradite its citizens.
Polanski claims the US judge and prosecutors acted improperly, and his lawyers will argue before a California appeal court in December that the charges should be dismissed.
