Swiss detain Roman Polanski

Switzerland had no alternative but to arrest director Roman Polanski, Justice Minister Eveline Wildmer-Schlumpf said on Sunday.

The minister insisted there was no special pressure from the United States but that Switzerland had to act as it would for any extradition request.

Swiss police on Saturday detained the Oscar-winning director, 76, as he arrived to attend the Zurich film festival and he now faces extradition to the United States for having sex with a 13-year-old girl in California three decades ago.

"Switzerland was under no pressure from the Americans... Politics has nothing to do with it,'' Wildmer-Schlumpf told journalists in Bern. There was "no other solution'' but to arrest Polanski, she said.

Polanski is being held in Geneva under a 2005 international alert issued by the US government, related to a 1978 arrest warrant.

Wildmer-Schlumpf acknowledged that Polanski had been to Switzerland before but this was the first time since the 2005 alert that Switzerland had known in advance that Polanski was coming to the country.

"Under the rule of law, it's not possible to distinguish. It would be incomprehensible for someone who stands out from the rest to benefit from different treatment,'' she said.

US authorities have been pursuing the "Rosemary's Baby", "Chinatown'' and "The Pianist'' director for many years.

Polanski fled the United States in 1978 before sentencing on a charge of unlawful sexual intercourse with a 13-year-old girl. He admitted the charge at the time and has never returned.