E-mails show US discussed nabbing Polanski in Austria
GENEVA - American prosecutors closely monitored Roman Polanski in Austria and considered seeking his arrest there days before the director’s apprehension in Switzerland, documents obtained by the Associated Press show.
Los Angeles officials decided against filing a warrant for Polanski’s arrest with the Austrian government after questioning how accommodating it would be to an extradition request. They also were concerned about the limited time available before Polanski left the country, according to e-mails obtained by the AP under a US public records request.
The e-mail exchange Sept. 23 was made three days before Polanski traveled to Switzerland and was arrested at Zurich’s airport.
It sheds new light on how closely US officials were monitoring the 76-year-old director’s movements after being tipped off that he was outside France and why they chose to go after him in Switzerland, where they are now seeking his extradition for having sex in 1977 with a 13-year-old girl.
“I don’t have experience with any Austrian extraditions, so I don’t know how ‘friendly’ they would be to extradition on such a case,’’ Diana Carbajal, a Los Angeles deputy district attorney, wrote in an e-mail.
