Zurich fest to honour Roman Polanski

 MUMBAI: The Zurich Film Festival will honour Roman Polanski with the lifetime achievement award on 27 September. The noted filmmaker could not accept the award in 2009 following his arrest by Swiss police. 

“We are especially proud to welcome Roman Polanski this year to receive his award. We have always been tremendous admirers of his work, and we are delighted that we will soon be able to express this to him in person,” Zurich festival directors Karl Spoerri and Nadja Schildknecht said in a statement. 

Polanski was arrested at Zurich airport in September 2009 at the instance of the US Justice Department in a 1977 case of having sex with a 13-year-old girl.

The director had fled the US in 1978 after pleading guilty to unlawful sexual intercourse with the minor and faced extradition to the US. However, the Swiss government rejected the extradition request in July 2010 and released Polanski from house arrest at his home in Gstaad.