Polanski free to live, work in Poland

Poland will not extradite Oscar-winning filmmaker Roman Polanski to the U.S. in an almost 40-year-old case after prosecutors declined to challenge a court ruling against the extradition request.

Prosecutors in Krakow, who had sought the extradition on behalf of the U.S., said Friday they found the court’s refusal of extradition to be “right” and they found no grounds to appeal it.

A lawyer for Polanski, Jan Olszewski, said that Polanski’s reaction was of “great relief” and “satisfaction.”

The decision closes the case in Poland and means Polanski, 82, is free to reside and work in Poland, where he grew up and studied filmmaking, and where he is preparing to make a new movie. Preparations were stalled by the arrest and extradition requests that the U.S. made last year. In 2011, Switzerland rejected a U.S. request to extradite Polanski.

The director pleaded guilty in 1977 to one count of unlawful sexual intercourse with a 13-year-old girl during a photo shoot in Los Angeles.

In a deal with the judge, he served 42 days in prison but then fled the U.S. fearing the judge would have him imprisoned again for much longer. The U.S. has been seeking to bring Polanski back and put him before a court.

Krakow prosecutors shared the court’s opinion that Polanski had served his punishment and did not need to face a U.S. court again.