Freed on bail, still faces extradition to the U.S.
Roman Polanski has been released from prison and will be placed under house arrest at his ski chalet in Switzerland, the Telegraph reports. A Swiss court granted the film director’s request to be released on US $4.5 million bail and the government will not challenge that decision. Polanski will be released from custody as soon as bail has been transferred, ID and travel documents have been lodged, and the electronic monitoring system has been installed and tested, the ministry said. The decision to grant bail does not affect the justice ministry’s pending decision on whether to extradite the 76-year-old director to the United States for having sex in Los Angeles in 1977 with a 13-year-old girl, the paper notes. That decision is expected “within weeks.” Polanski faces up to two years in a US prison if he is extradited.