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Roman Polanski has refused to be extradited from Switzerland to the United States over a 1977 underage sex case, the filmmaker's lawyer said on Monday.
"He has refused the request from the United States for his extradition," said a statement issued by the 76-year-old director's French lawyer Herve Temime, two days after he was detained in Switzerland on a US warrant.
Polanski pleaded guilty before a US court in 1978 of having unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor as part of a plea bargain.
But he fled the country before sentencing and has been a fugitive from US justice ever since.
"Given the extravagant circumstances of his arrest, his Swiss lawyer will ask without delay for him to be released, possibly under certain conditions," the lawyer's statement added.
"After that his defence team will demonstrate the illegal nature of the extradition request he is facing," it said.
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