“I am very happy that this case is over,” Polish/French director Roman Polanski told a news conference in Krakow, South Poland, just hours after a local court made a decision not to extradite him to the U.S. where he is wanted in connection with his 1977 child sex crime conviction.
“It cost me a lot of effort, a lot of nerve, a lot of health,” he went on to say. “And it was hard on my family, too. My family suffered even more than me.”
“I am glad that I trusted Polish justice,” the 82-year old Oscar winning director concluded. “I had no doubt that the case would end well. Poland is a country where courts are independent.”
However, the case may not be over yet for Polanski as prosecutors could still appeal, Zbigniew Cwiakalski, Poland’s former justice minister, said on TVN24 while commenting on the verdict.
“And if a higher court overrules the judgment, it will be up to the justice minister to make a final decision,” he added.
The prosecutors have not yet said if they are going to appeal.
Similarly, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, the leader of Poland’s conservative Law and Justice Party, who previously made remarks that Polanski could be extradited, has not yet commented on the verdict.
