Polanski files for release with Swiss court

The Swiss Criminal Court says imprisoned director Roman Polanski has filed a motion requesting to be released.

The court said in a statement Tuesday that it will make a decision "in the next weeks."

Any verdict is subject to appeal from both sides.

Polanski was arrested Saturday as he arrived in Zurich to receive an award from a film festival. The United States has been seeking his extradition for having sex with a 13-year-old girl in 1977.

The French lawyer for Roman Polanski said the director will fight a request for his extradition from Switzerland to the United States to face justice in a 32-year-old sex case.

Herv Temime said Polanski has "refused the extradition request" which he said in an email statement Monday was "illegal."

Arrest a 'bit sinister': French official

In Paris, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said Monday he hopedthe 76-year-old director of such films as Chinatown and Rosemary's Baby could be quickly freed by the Swiss, calling the apprehension a "bit sinister."

He also told France-Inter radio that he and his Polish counterpart Radek Sikorski wrote to U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Polanski seems most likely to spend several months in detention, unless he agrees to forgo any challenge to his extradition to the United States. Under a 1990 accord between Switzerland and the U.S., Washington has 60 days to submit a formal request for his transfer.

Rulings in a similar dispute four years ago over Russia's former atomic energy minister Yevgeny Adamov confirmed that subjects should be held in custody throughout the procedure. The 2005 saga over Adamov's extradition, to Russia and not the U.S., took seven months.