Q&A: Roman Polanski arrest

Why the film director is being held in Switzerland, how he was caught, and what might happen next
Roman Polanski at the 2008 Cannes film festival
Roman Polanski at the 2008 Cannes film festival. Photograph: Guillaume Horcajuelo/EPA

Why has Roman Polanski been arrested?

For fleeing the US after pleading guilty to sex with a 13-year-old girl in 1977. The American authorities issued an international search request in 2005; Swiss authorities arrested him on Saturday at Zurich airport.

Where is he now?

In Swiss custody. The country's justice ministry says he has been put in "provisional detention".

Why now?

When Polanski travelled to Switzerland to collect a lifetime achievement award at the Zurich film festival at the weekend, it was far from the first time the director had set foot on Swiss soil.

He has openly had a house in Switzerland for "the last 12, 15 years", according to his agent, Jeff Berg. The property is a chalet in Gstaad, a ski village in the German-speaking section of the canton of Bern in south-west Switzerland.

What are the US authorities saying?

The Los Angeles county district attorney's office planned the arrest after learning last week that Polanski had plans to travel to Zurich for the film festival, said Sandi Gibbons, a county spokeswoman. Prosecutors sent a provisional arrest warrant to the US justice department, which presented it to Swiss authorities.

At least twice before, the district attorney's office has received reports Polanski was going to visit countries with extradition treaties with the US and prepared paperwork for his arrest, according to Gibbons. "But in the end he apparently found out about it and didn't go," she said.

What are the Swiss authorities saying?

Yesterday, the Swiss justice ministry insisted politics played no role. "There was a valid arrest request and we knew when he was coming. That's why he was taken into custody," said Guido Balmer, a spokesman for the ministry. "There is no link with any other issues in question."

Balmer said Swiss police managed to arrest Polanski on this occasion because they knew when and where he would arrive. Switzerland does not perform regular passport checks on arrivals from 24 other European countries. Balmer said many foreigners entered Switzerland without being registered.

Have the US and Swiss authorities struck a deal?

Many rumours are circulating, but one theory is that the Swiss agreed to arrest Polanski as part of a quid pro quo deal relating to UBS, the Swiss financial services firm. UBS admitted in February that it helped thousands of American citizens evade paying taxes and is still in negotiations about handing over details of secret accounts to the IRS.

Yesterday, the news wire service AP accidentally published a memo between reporters in which one journalist hypothesised that the Swiss are "under intense pressure over UBS and want to throw the US a bone".

Polanski's friend, the writer Robert Harris, has told the Guardian that he thought there was "something very odd, very suspicious" about the timing of the arrest. In Paris, the French foreign minister, Bernard Kouchner, called the arrest a "bit sinister".

What happens next?

The US has 60 days to produce a formal extradition request. "If he agrees with an extradition he could be sent to the US in the next days," said Balmer. If Polanski decides to fight his extradition the court process could be quite lengthy, Balmer told the Los Angeles Times.

Could he get bail?

The Swiss justice ministry today would not rule out some sort of bail on strict conditions, including not fleeing Switzerland. A spokesman said such an arrangement was "not entirely excluded" under Swiss law.

France and Poland have urged Switzerland to free the 76-year-old director on bail and pressed US officials all the way up to the secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, on the case.