A French attorney for detained director Roman Polanski said today that he would fight extradition to the United States on a 32-year-old statutory rape charge.
“He wants to struggle, and I think it will be possible for us to maintain his freedom,” lawyer Herve Temime told “Good Morning America” today, adding that Polanski and his lawyers were shocked that the Oscar winner was arrested after walking into a trap at the Zurich, Switzerland, airport.
Polanski, 76, has been avoiding the United States and countries that have extradition agreements with the United States since 1978, when he pleaded guilty to unlawful sexual intercourse with a 13-year-old girl.
Polanski served 43 days in a California jail, where he underwent psychological evaluation. He then fled to Europe before he was sentenced to avoid what would likely have been a lengthy prison term. Then a powerhouse Hollywood director, Polanski continued a fruitful career in Europe and had been known to visit Switzerland frequently, reportedly owning a chalet there.
“I’m very shocked by the demand of extradition because, you know, this case has been a very long time — 32 years — and during this time, Mr. Polanski traveled a lot,” Temime said. “He couldn’t imagine that he would be arrested in Switzerland.”
Temime is one of a team of lawyers, including Swiss lawyer Lorenz Erni of the firm Eschmann & Erni, to represent him while he is held in Zurich.
“I’ve talked with Mr. Polanski,” Temime said. “He’s in very good shape.”
The statutory rape charge stemmed from Polanski’s 1977 sexual encounter with a 13-year-old girl whom he plied with champagne and Quaaludes at the home of actor Jack Nicholson.
Now in her 40s, his victim, Samantha Geimer, has said she has forgiven Polanski and does not want him to serve jail time.
Swiss officials are waiting on an official extradition request from the United States, but may set bail for Polanski. Temime said he is unsure why U.S. officials would act now, nabbing his client as he arrived to accept an award at the Zurich Film Festival. He’s hopeful the judge will be sympathetic to Polanski’s situation.
“I think it will be possible for the Swiss judge … to make Mr. Polanski free as soon as possible,” he said. “If he was released he could have some conditions, but first we have to make the request.”
Polanski, who has had small, often uncredited roles in his films, rose to fame in the 1960s and ’70s as the director of such movies as 1968’s “Rosemary’s Baby” and 1974’s “Chinatown.” He was briefly married to actress Sharon Tate, who was murdered, along with the couple’s unborn son, in 1969 by a group of Charles Manson followers.
The French culture minister has denounced the United States for the arrest of Polanski, saying it is a “terrible thing and very unfair.” “Seeing him alone, imprisoned while he was heading to an event that was due to offer him praise and recognition is awful. He was trapped,” French Culture Minister Frederic Mitterrand said at a news conference Sunday. “In the same way there is a generous America that we like, there is also a scary America, that has just shown its face.”
Mitterrand said French President Nicholas Sarkozy is paying close attention to the case and that the French consulate may try to visit with Polanski today if allowed.
“I’m offering my support to Polanski as a French citizen and as the minister for culture. Justice has been denied to him many times in his life, and beauty is something that he has brought though his films,” he said, calling Polanski a “wonderful man” and
“one of the greatest directors of all time.If the world of culture does not offer its support to Polanski, then that would mean there is no more culture in this country.”
Polanski’s team of U.S. attorneys — Douglas Dalton, Bart Dalton and Chad Hummel — also seemed surprised by the arrest.
“An issue related to the Swiss extradition matter is presently being litigated before the California Court of Appeal. We had hoped that this would be determinative of this case,” they said in a statement to ABCNews.com Sunday. “We were unaware of any extradition being sought and separate counsel will be retained for those proceedings.”
A spokesman for the U.S. Department of Justice, which is overseeing the case, declined to comment to ABCNews.com Sunday.
“We don’t comment on matters of extradition, unless and until an individual is on U.S. soil,” spokeswoman Laura Sweeney said, citing security concerns.
But the U.S. Marshals confirmed it has been watching Polanski’s movements. A provisional arrest warrant was issued after the Marshals and the Los Angeles Police Department learned Polanski would be traveling to Switzerland via Vienna.
Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office spokeswoman Sandi Gibbons told ABC News that this is not the first time Polanski has been in this situation, but he typically hears about a possible arrest ahead of time.
“He hears that he might be arrested if he goes to another country, so he doesn’t go,” she said, using England as an example.
If and when Polanski is extradited, she said, he will appear in a Los Angeles court. Gibbons said Switzerland is just one of several countries U.S. authorities have worked with to take Polanski into custody.
“We have made requests through diplomatic channels where we’ve received info that he will be traveling to other countries that have a treaty with the U.S.,” she said, calling Polanski a “fugitive.” “There has been several times where we have prepared necessary documents with the countries that have treaties with the U.S.”
Polanski became involved with the 13-year-old girl after her mother approved a private photo shoot in hopes of furthering the teen’s acting career. She said he supplied her with champagne and Quaaludes and assaulted her at Jack Nicholson’s home. Nicholson’s then-girlfriend, Academy Award-winning actress Anjelica Huston, was at the house at the time.
In 2003, Geimar spoke to ABC News and said she wished Polanski would return to the U.S. to end the ordeal for both of them.
“I would love to see him resolve it,” Geimer said at the time. “And I think we’ve always had the position of, you know, the sooner the better.” Geimer said that after Polanski’s arrest, she and her mother were blamed for the incident. “You know after the publicity came out and stuff, I knew it was just as bad for him as it was for me,” Geimer told ABC News. “I’m sure if he could I’m sure he’d go back and wouldn’t do it again.”
Though for years, Polanski maintained that the encounter was completely consensual, he seemed to change his attitude in a 1994 interview with ABC News’ Diane Sawyer. “I know now it was, it was not the right thing to do,” he said at the time. “But I was, there was no premeditation, you know, it was something that just happened.”
