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Swiss Free Polanski

Swiss Justice Minister Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf has announced that the government will not extradite Roman Polanski to the U.S. and he is now free to leave the country, according to THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER.

Swiss Justice Minister Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf has announced that the government will not extradite Roman Polanski to the U.S. and he is now free to leave the country, according to THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER. In September 2009, the Swiss arrested Polanski on a request from the U.S. regarding the director's 1977 sexual abuse charges. Polanski spent two months in jail and then house arrest in Gstaad.

Part of the decision was based on the U.S.'s refusal to release confidential testimony regarding the sentencing procedures. Polanski's lawyers argue that those testimonies prove that original prosecutor Roger Gunson had made a deal with late Judge Laurence J. Rittenband to only sentence Polanski to a 90-day psychiatric evaluation. The judge later reneged on the deal, which spurred Polanski to flee the U.S.

Polanski was accused of drugging and raping a 13-year-old model at a photo shoot at Jack Nicholson's home. The director was originally charged with six felony counts, but only pleaded guilty to one count of unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor.

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