POLISH COURT REJECTS REQUEST FOR POLANSKI’S EXTRADITION

Poland’s Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected a government request to have Oscar- winning filmmaker Roman Polanski extradited to the USA if he enters Poland. Polanski is wanted in a nearly 40- year- old case involving sex with a 13- year- old girl.

The new request was brought by Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro after a lower court refused to seek Polanski’s extradition, arguing that the Polish- born director already had served a prison term and probably would not get a fair trial in the USA if he were extradited.

The effort by Ziobro, of Poland’s rightwing ruling Law and Justice party, was seen as part of broad moves by the government to support Roman Catholicfriendly values and law- and- order policies. The government in Warsaw abandoned an earlier attempt to introduce a near- total ban on abortion.