Decisions announced by the Ministry of Justice in Bern, after nearly 10 months of legal battle between the U.S. Justice Department and lawyers Polanski. 76-year-old Oscar-winning director was jailed, and then only his ski chalet in the Alpine resort Gastaad with an electronic bracelet on foot.
The Swiss Justice Ministry said the decision reflects doubts about the validity of the U.S. extradition request, in particular, about the negotiations between Los Angeles and prosecutors, Polanski U.S. lawyers at the time. Justice Minister Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf said at a press conference that Polanski is now free to leave the country and return to his home in France.
Widmer-Schlumpf said that the decision of the Swiss was not based on the determination of guilt or innocence of Polanski, but only on the validity of the extradition request presented by the United States of America and what it describes as the Swiss national interests.
Switzerland has accused the U.S. authorities for failing to provide confidential testimony about the procedure of sentencing Polanski in 1977-1978. The Swiss government has stated that it was confidential testimony given on January 26, Roger Gunson, the prosecutor in Los Angeles, responsible for the original prosecution Polanski. The United States rejected the request.
"This is a great satisfaction and a great relief after suffering, Roman Polanski and his family," said Herve Temime, a French lawyer, who was on the team is a director.
The decision is a victory not only for Polanski, but also for a wide range of European intellectual and political figures who came to his defense with petitions and statements of outrage denouncing efforts to further the prosecution, after so many years.
Supporters of Polanski, from the other directors of the French Culture and Foreign Affairs, criticized the U.S. and the Los Angeles judicial authorities are looking for what they call a crude revenge against a major artist who deserves more respect. Some suggested that Switzerland had responded to the request for extradition only relieve the pressure the United States against Swiss banking secrecy laws.
French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner called the U.S. request for extradition "a little sinister," coming so long after. His colleague, Minister of Culture Frederic Mitterrand said Polanski is being "thrown to lions at the old story that really has no meaning."
Mitterrand issued a statement Monday expressing satisfaction with the Swiss decision. Another vocal ally, the French writer Bernard-Henri Levy told reporters in Paris that he was "mad with joy.
Polanski was arrested in September, when he flew to Zurich, to be awarded the Lifetime Achievement in Film. He won an Academy Award in the category "Chinatown" (1974), "Tess" (1980) and "The Pianist," for which he won the 2002 Oscar.
He was wanted for escaping from the United States three decades ago, the eve of the 1978 conviction in Los Angeles. The hearing was part of a plea bargain in which Polanski admitted that the illegal sex with a girl during a modeling session in the house of actor Jack Nicholson. To deal with Los Angeles prosecutors, Polanski also been charged with child molestation, rape and sodomy, as well as providing the girl with illegal drugs.
Supporters Polansky said that he had escaped from the sentence after concluding that his Los Angeles judge was going to return to the transaction statement and proposal by the Director to a lengthy term in prison. Since then, he lived in his native France, while avoiding countries that have strong extradition treaties with the United States.
