Roman Polanski has broken his month-long silence over the threat of extradition to claim the US wants to serve him “on a platter to the media”.
The Oscar winning director, who is under house arrest in his alpine Swiss chalet, is fighting extradition to the US over a 33-year-old sex case.
Polanski spoke out in an online magazine run by one of his staunchest supporters, French philosopher Bernard-Henri Levy.
“I have had my share of dramas and joys, as we all have, and I am not going to try to ask you to pity my lot in life,” he wrote.
“I ask only to be treated fairly like anyone else.”
I can no longer remain silent because the United States continues to demand my extradition more to serve me on a platter to the media of the world than to pronounce a judgment concerning which an agreement was reached 33 years ago. – Roman Polanski
Swiss authorities are trying to decide whether to extradite Polanski to Los Angeles for having sex with a 13-year-old girl in 1977.
He served several weeks in prison under a plea deal with prosecutors but then fled the country when it appeared that the judge was about to renege on the agreement.
Polanski was arrested seven months ago as he arrived in Zurich to receive a lifetime achievement award at a film festival.
He was put behind bars for more than two months before being transferred on $4.5m (£2.7m) bail to house arrest in the luxury resort of Gstaad.
Polanski – who finished work on his latest film, The Ghost, while in custody – suggests the case against him is unjust and riddled with discrepancies.
One of his complaints is over Los Angeles County District Attorney Steve Cooley, who is running for California attorney general.
The 76-year-old – who won an Oscar for The Pianist – claims Mr Cooley is aiming to further his own career.
He said Mr Cooley “who is handling this case and has requested extradition, is himself campaigning for election and needs media publicity!”
The Chinatown director wrote that he had had to mortgage his apartment to pay the bail.
He added: “I can no longer remain silent because the United States continues to demand my extradition more to serve me on a platter to the media of the world than to pronounce a judgment concerning which an agreement was reached 33 years ago.”
