After months of staying mum, Roman Polanski has spoken: In a statement released to media Sunday, the beleaguered Polish filmmaker accused U.S. authorities of “trying to serve me on a platter to the media of the world” for a sex crime committed 33 years ago. He also charged them with failing to honor a decades-old agreement to “limit his punishment to time already served,” The New York Times reports. “The request for my extradition addressed to the Swiss authorities is founded on a lie," he continued. In 1977, Polanski was arrested for having sex with a 13-year-old girl and charged with rape; he later pleaded guilty for sleeping with a minor, but fled the U.S. before his final sentencing. Polanski’s lawyers have argued that the judge who presided over their client’s case, who died in 1993, committed “improprieties,” promising that the 42 days the filmmaker spent in a California prison during psychiatric evaluation would serve as his complete sentence. His lawyers are currently arguing with the L.A. district attorney's office over the terms on which the request for an extradition was made, claiming that the plea to Swiss officials hid facts that would disqualify Polanski from extradition status.
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