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Swiss court grants Polanski bail | Swiss court grants Polanski bail |
(40 minutes later) | |
A Swiss court has accepted film-maker Roman Polanski's plea to be freed on $4.5 m bail from a Swiss jail where he is being held for a US child sex case. | |
The court said Polanski could stay at his chalet in the Swiss Alps. He would be monitored by an electronic tag. | |
Polanski, 76, has been wanted in the US since fleeing the country in 1978 after pleading guilty to having unlawful sex a year earlier with a 13-year-old girl. | |
He was held in Zurich after travelling from France in September. | |
'Unusual' ruling | |
On Wednesday, the Swiss Federal Criminal Court accepted Polanski's bail plea and his offer to surrender his passport. | |
The court said Polanski would be subjected to "constant electronic surveillance" at his chalet and an electronic tag would be activated if he attempted to leave the premises. | |
It also said that Polanski - who holds dual French and Polish citizenship - would stay in the prison pending a possible appeal against the ruling. | |
The Swiss justice ministry has 10 days to appeal against the court's decision. | |
It is highly unusual for extradition subjects to be granted bail in Switzerland, says the BBC's Imogen Foulkes, adding that Polanski's first application was refused. | |
But this time the court ruled bail conditions should be enough to prevent him fleeing back to France, our correspondent says. | |
The ruling is not thought to affect the Swiss government's ongoing assessment of whether it should extradite Polanski to the US. | The ruling is not thought to affect the Swiss government's ongoing assessment of whether it should extradite Polanski to the US. |