Roman Polanski Will Fight Extradition

Rosemary's Baby director Roman Polanski will fight plans to extradite him from Europe to the United States over sex offences dating back to 1977.

Roman — who won a best director Oscar for The Pianist, starring Adrien Brody, in 2003— was arrested on Saturday, Sept. 26 in Zurich, Switzerland, where he had traveled to accept a lifetime achievement award.

The Polish-born director, 76, fled America in 1978 after pleading guilty to having sex with a 13-year-old. The controversial director has never returned to the U.S, remaining in Paris, France.

"We will be demanding that he be freed. Then we will fight the extradition," a lawyer for the filmmaker, Herve Temine, told France's Le Figaro newspaper.

"Humanly, it seems to me unbearable that more than 30 years after the incident a man of 76 who obviously poses no danger to society and whose artistic and personal reputation are clearly established, should spend a single day in prison."

The woman at the centre of the case, Samantha Geimer, who is now 45, has previously asked for the charges to be dropped.