Appeal for Polanski's release rejected

Switzerland's Justice Ministry has rejected an appeal to release Roman Polanski on bail, with the filmmaker toremain in detention pending a decision on his extradition to the U.S. to answer for a 32-year-old sex case.

Folco Galli,speaking for the ministry, said Tuesday that officials believe 76-year-old Polanskiis a flight risk.

The appeal that was rejected is separate from a court case Polanski's legal team filed last week also seeking the release of the director.

The Oscar-winning filmmaker behind The Pianist, Rosemary's Baby andChinatown was detained at Zurich's airport on Sept. 26 as per a U.S. arrest warrant. According to the Swiss Justice Ministry, U.S. authorities had sought his arrest globally since 2005.

He had arrived in the city to receive a lifetime achievement award from organizers of the Zurich Film Festival.

The French and Polish citizen fled the U.S. in 1978, a year after he pleaded guilty to unlawful sexual intercourse with a 13-year-old girl. Lawyers for Polanski have claimed misconduct by the now-deceased judge who arranged his plea bargain and then reneged on it. The director has asked a U.S. Appeals Court in California to overturn a lower tribunal's refusal to throw out his case.

The victim, Samantha Geimer, identified herself publicly and has since joined in Polanski's bid for dismissal, saying she wants the case to be over. Previously, she had sued and reached an undisclosed settlement with the director, who has lived in France for the past three decades.