POLAND has relaunched a procedure to extradite Oscar-winning director Roman Polanski to the United States to face sentencing for a 1977 case of statutory rape.

Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro told Polish public radio that he would appeal to the Supreme Court to overturn a previous decision that Polanski should not face extradition.

In October, a local court in the southern city of Cracow ruled that Polanski should not be sent to the United States, a decision prosecutors agreed was “justified.”

The Cracow court was fiercely critical of the original US investigation into the filmmaker’s case, saying the US judges and prosecutors had flouted “the rules of a fair trial”.

One of his lawyers at the time said that the decision “ends the legal proceedings” against the 82-year French-Polish director.

However, at the time, Ziobro described the ruling as “surprising” and announced a review into the decision.

Polanski is still wanted by the US for sentencing over the 1977 statutory rape of Samantha Geimer after a photo shoot in Los Angeles.

She was 13 at the time. Polanski was 43.

He pleaded guilty to unlawful sex with a minor, or statutory rape, avoiding a trial, but then fled the country fearing a hefty sentence.

media_camera A combination of pictures shows French-Polish film director Roman Polanski and US writer and former actor Samantha Geimer, known as the 13-year-old girl named as the victim in the 1970s child sex conviction against Oscar-winning Polanski. Picture: AFP

CHILD SEX CASE: A TIMELINE

1977

— March 10: Polanski, aged 43, invites 13-year-old Samantha Gailey (now Samantha Geimer) to take part in a fashion photo session at the Hollywood home of actor Jack Nicholson. The girl tells her mother that Polanski plied her with alcohol and drugs and raped her.

— April 15: Polanski goes on trial on charges including rape and sodomy. He initially pleads not guilty, but under a plea-bargain agreement, admits the charge of having unlawful sex with a minor. He is ordered to undergo three months of psychiatric tests.

1978

— February: After a month and a half in the state prison at Chino, California, Polanski flees the United States to avoid the risk of a hefty sentence. He settles in France, where he was born and has citizenship. France refuses an extradition request.

1994

— Polanski reaches a civil agreement to pay damages to the woman he assaulted. California refuses to lift the criminal charges.

2003

— March: Polanski is awarded an Oscar for his film “The Pianist”. Geimer issues a statement saying she has forgiven Polanski, but confirming that he raped her. Fearing arrest, the director stays away from the Oscars ceremony.

2009

— September 26: Polanski is arrested upon arrival in Zurich, Switzerland, for a film festival, pending an extradition request from the US.

-October 23: US authorities submit a formal extradition request.

— November 25: A Swiss court authorises Polanski’s release on bail and on the condition that he remains under effective house arrest at his chalet in the Swiss resort of Gstaad.

2010

— April 22: A California court rejects a request by Geimer to drop the charges against Polanski. Geimer says she has suffered health problems after being hounded by media.

— May 15: A 42-year-old British actor, Charlotte Lewis, alleges that Polanski sexually abused her when she was 16. Lewis’s lawyer said the actor was speaking out to counter suggestions that the US case against Polanski was based on an isolated event.

— July 12: Switzerland rejects the US extradition request and Polanski is freed.

2014

— October: The US asks Poland to arrest Polanski as he travels to Warsaw for the opening of a Jewish museum. Polish prosecutors question the filmmaker but do not detain him.

2015

— January 7: The US asks Poland to extradite Polanski.

— May 8: The Cracow court examining the demand asks the US for more information.

— October 30: The court decides against extraditing Polanski, ruling the US request “inadmissable”.

- November 27: The prosecutor’s office in Cracow says the decision “to refuse to hand Roman Polanski over to US authorities was justified”.

2016

— May 31: Poland’s Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro says he will appeal to the Supreme Court to overturn the previous decision that Polanski should not face extradition.

Originally published as New bid to extradite Polanski