A Polish court on Friday rejected a U.S. request to extradite acclaimed filmmaker Roman Polanski over a child sex-crime conviction, according to reports.
Judge Dariusz Mazur told Krakow’s district court that the extradition request was “inadmissible,” according to Reuters.
The ruling could close the latest chapter in a decades-long extradition saga around the 1977 crime — though prosecutors could still appeal, Reuters reported.
Polanski was accused of plying his then-13-year-old victim with champagne and drugs at a photoshoot, taking topless photos and having sex with her. He pleaded guilty to unlawful sex with a minor in 1977 and served 42 days in prison as part of a 90-day plea bargain.
However, the Academy Award winner fled the U.S. for Europe on the eve of his formal sentencing out of fear a judge would overrule the initial deal and send him back to prison.
He’s since been a fugitive — and U.S. authorities have repeatedly tried to have him extradited.
The 82-year-old director, who won Oscars for the 2002 film “The Pianist” and was nominated for 1974’s “Chinatown” and 1979’s “Tess,” did not attend the court hearing. Polanski’s dual French and Polish nationalities have complicated extradition efforts over the years. France, where Polanski has spent most of his time in exile, does not extradite its own citizens. The Holocaust survivor garnered fame for his films but also for personal tragedy: his first wife, Sharon Tate, was murdered by Charles Manson’s followers in 1969. This article originally appeared on NBCNews.com.
Reuters
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