A ruling by a Kraków court as to whether Polish-French director Roman Polański should be extradited to the US over a 1977 case of unlawful sex with a minor was delayed on Wednesday.
Among the reasons cited by the court was the arrival of new documents concerning the US's attempts to have the director extradited from Switzerland in 2009.
Many of the documents, which arrived on Tuesday, are in German, meaning that the Kraków District Court is obliged to translate them.
Polański arrived at the Kraków court with his lawyers at 10 am local time, and proceeded to provide his testimony behind closed doors.
The next hearing is set for April, it has been disclosed. However, regardless of the court's ruling, Poland's minister of justice maintains the right to veto the decision.
The US called on Poland to extradite Polański after the director, who survived the Nazi-German occupation of Kraków, attended the grand opening of the Museum of the History of Polish Jews in Warsaw, this January.
Polański has also been in the country for talks concerning his next feature film, which he hopes to shoot in Poland. The project explores the Dreyfus Affair, a notorious miscarriage of justice in the French army at the end of the 19th century.
Unlawful sex with a minor
Polański, who has dual Polish-French citizenship, fled the US to France in February 1978, shortly before being sentenced for unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor (the then 13-year-old Samantha Geimer).
He has been on Interpol's wanted list ever since.
The director was arrested in Switzerland in 2009 after a US request for his extradition, but Swiss authorities ultimately backed down. (nh)
Source: TVN24
Photo: Polish film director Roman Polanski (C) with his lawyers Jerzy Stachowicz (L) and Jan Olszewski (R) enters the District Court in Krakow, Poland, 25 February 2015. The District Court in Krakow in a closed session will decide whether a US request for Polanski's extradition over a 1977 child sex crime conviction is admissible. If the court does not agree on Polanski's extradition, the decision will be final. If the court agrees, the final decision on an extradition will be made by the Polish Minister of Justice. The court decided that extradition proceedings will not end on Wednesday 25 February. EPA/JACEK BEDNARCZYK
Ewa Malcher
