Lawyer: Director Roman Polanski Will Fight Swiss Extradition To The US In 1977 Sex Case

First Published: September 28, 2009 10:36 AM EDT Credit: Getty Images

ZURICH, Switzerland -- Caption Roman Polanksi, November 2008 The French lawyer for Roman Polanski says the director will fight a request for his extradition from Switzerland to the United States to face justice in a 32-year-old sex case.

Herve Temime says Polanski has “refused the extradition request” and that a Swiss lawyer for the 76-year-old director will file a motion for his release from Swiss custody.

Temime said in an e-mailed statement Monday that the U.S. extradition request was “illegal.”

Polanski was arrested Saturday as he arrived in Zurich to accept an award from a film festival. The U.S. is seeking him for pleading guilty to having sex in 1977 with a 13-year-old girl and fleeing to France a year later.

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