Polanski has yet to post bail

2009-12-01 09:26

Gstaad - Filmmaker Roman Polanski still has to make a bail payment before he can be released from jail and placed under house arrest at his chalet in Switzerland, a French diplomat said on Monday.

Polanski, who has been hunted by the US ever since he fled in 1978 after admitting unlawful sex with a 13-year-old girl in California, was granted bail on Wednesday, while he awaits a ruling on a US extradition request.

"The bail has to be posted," said French consul general in Zurich, Jean-Luc Faure-Tournaire, after he visited the French-Polish film director in jail at Winterthur in northeastern Switzerland.

"Nothing is being called into question, everything is going normally," Faure-Tournaire added, without giving a date for Polanski's conditional release.

Under bail conditions set by Switzerland's top criminal court after the successful appeal, Polanski was ordered to pay a bond of €3m.

The 76-year-old was also ordered to surrender his identity documents while being allowed to stay within the confines of his chalet in the ski resort of Gstaad under house arrest while wearing an electronic surveillance bracelet.

Although he travelled regularly to Gstaad for several years, the Franco-Polish film director was arrested on a US warrant on September 26, when he arrived at Zurich airport to attend a film festival where he was to receive a special award.

The US has formally asked Switzerland to extradite Polanski, but Swiss authorities were still examining that request.

A Swiss official indicated last week that the release was likely from Monday.

- SAPA