Polanski 'happy' after Polish court rejects extradition to US

Oscar-winning director Roman Polanski on Friday said he was "very happy" that a Polish court rejected a bid to extradite him to the United States to face sentencing for the rape of a 13-year-old girl in 1977.

 "I'm obviously very happy that this case is coming to an end. It cost me a lot of energy, health," the 82-year-old told reporters in the southern city of Krakow where the court is located.

 "I'm glad I put faith in the Polish justice system," the Polish-French fugitive added after the court ruled "inadmissibility in extraditing" Polanski.

 Presiding judge Dariusz Mazur criticised the original US investigation in his two-and-a-half-hour ruling, saying the judges and prosecutors there "seriously broke the rules of a fair trial".

 "Had Poland accepted the US extradition request, it would have violated the rights of Mr Polanski and at the same time the European Convention on Human Rights," the judge decided.

 The decision in favour of the 82-year-old director of "The Pianist", "Chinatown" and "Rosemary's Baby" can still be appealed, court spokeswoman Beata Gorszczyk said earlier Friday.

 "The case would then be sent to a higher court, which could uphold the regional court's decision, overturn it or send it back for retrial," she eportedly said.

 Polanski spoke of the toll the case had taken on his family -- including French actress Emmanuelle Seigner, whom he married in 1989.

 His lawyers denied local media reports that he had been waiting for the verdict from aboard a plane at Krakow airport. Lawyer Jan Olszewski said earlier Polanski did not attend the hearing "because of emotional reasons".