Roman Polanski walks free in Poland after questions about infamous sex attack

Film director Roman Polanski has been allowed to walk free after being questioned by Polish prosecutors on a U.S. arrest warrant for sex offences. The maker of The Pianist and Chinatown has been sought by American police since 1978 after he fled the country before he could be sentenced for having sex with a 13-year-old girl. The U.S. asked the Polish prosecutor general to hold the 81-year-old director until he could be extradited, Polish justice ministry spokesman Mateusz Martyniuk said. But prosecutors in Krakow, southern Poland, released him after questioning.

Prosecutors have decided it was not necessary to arrest Roman Polanski.

Boguslawa Marcinkowska, a spokesperson for Krakow district prosecutors

Polanski had said he would co-operate with authorities. Los Angeles police charged him with six felony counts, including rape and sodomy, in 1977 before he accepted a plea deal. But he absconded on the eve of sentencing the following year fearing the judge planned to go back on the bargain. The director will be able to return to France, where he is directing a stage show called the The Vampires’ Ball. Polanski was arrested in 2009 in Zurich when he travelled to Switzerland to pick up a prize at a film festival after the U.S. made a similar request. But he was eventually allowed to return to France after an extradition bid failed.

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