By Rima Bek

Roman free as a candle

“BERN, SWITZERLAND (Hollywood Today) 7/12/10 — The 76-year-old French-Polish director Roman Polanski will not be extradited to the USA,” the Swiss Justice Ministry said in a statement on July 12.

In 1977, Polanski was arrested to the sexual assault of a 13-year-old girl.

The Oscar-winner was initially indicted on six felony charges but pleaded guilty to one count of unlawful sexual intercourse.

Polanski was originally sentenced to a 90-day psychiatric probation, but when the judge decided the change his sentence, Polanski fled.

At the request of U.S. authorities, Swiss police arrested Polanski in September 2009 when he traveled to Switzerland to accept a lifetime achievement award at the Zurich Film Festival.

After initial jail time, Polanski was granted house arrest for nine months at his Gstaad chalet while awaiting the decision of appeals fighting extradition.

On July 12, Swiss authorities said they would not extradite the director because the American request for extradition was faulty.

The Swiss Justice Ministry said U.S. officials should have supported their request by giving confidential documents.

“In these circumstances it was not possible to exclude with the necessary certainty that Roman Polanski had already served the sentence to which he was condemned at the time,” said Justice Minister Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf, in a conference in the capital, Bern, on Monday afternoon.

Mr. Polanski can now move freely,” said Justice Widmer-Schlumpf. “He’s a free man.”

Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer expressed deep disappointment over the decision.

A Swiss official said the U.S. cannot appeal the decision.