Will Roman Polanski finally face extradition and serve his sentence?
Roman Polanski is being questioned by Polish officials. Because of his 1978 conviction, his movements are restricted by an Interpol warrant in effect in 188 countries, but he travels freely between Switzerland, France, and Poland.
Director Roman Polanski arrives for the screening of Venus in Fur at the 66th international film festival, in Cannes, southern France, Saturday, May 25, 2013.
Joel Ryan/Invision/AP
WARSAW, Poland
Prosecutors in Poland questioned filmmaker Roman Polanski on Thursday at the request of US prosecutors who are seeking his arrest and extradition related to his 1978 conviction for having sex with a minor.
Boguslawa Marcinkowska, a spokeswoman for prosecutors in Krakow, said the filmmaker remained free but available for further interrogations. Polanski was questioned in the southern city of Krakow, where he owns an apartment.
Mateusz Martyniuk, a spokesman for the prosecutor general's office, said the US requested Polanski's arrest and Polish prosecutors were expecting an extradition request.
Earlier, Deputy Foreign Minister Rafal Trzaskowski hinted that Poland would not be willing to act on a US extradition request, saying that in Poland his charges have expired under the statute of limitations. Polanski has Polish and French passports.
Polanski later said on TVN24 that he believes that his Polish lawyers will have the case closed "once and for all."
He said he will be in Poland in February and March to work on a new movie. He also wants to show the country to his two children, who have not been to Poland since they were young children and "as a result don't know my motherland."
Polanski's movements are restricted by an Interpol warrant in effect in 188 countries, but he travels freely between Switzerland, France, and Poland.
Polanski, who has Jewish ancestry, attended the opening in Warsaw on Tuesday of a museum of the 1,000-year history of Jewish life in Poland. He later traveled to Krakow, where he grew up.
The 81-year-old director of movies like "Chinatown" and the Oscar-winning "The Pianist" lives in Paris, where — as French citizen — he has immunity from US justice, from which he fled in 1978, after he pleaded guilty to the charge of unlawful sex with a minor and sentenced to prison. In 2010, he was freed from Swiss house arrest after that government refused to extradite him.