Sex charges against me a travesty, says Polanski

Three decades after fleeing the United States over a sex case involving a 13-year-old girl, Roman Polanski, the Oscar-winning film director, has asked a Los Angeles court to dismiss the charges against him.

Lawyers for Polanski, 75, who has lived in exile in Europe since 1978, claim there was a pattern of misconduct among the prosecuting authorities and the original judge in the case. A hearing is due in January.

An arrest warrant for the original case remains outstanding and Polanski, the respected director of landmark films such as Rosemary's Baby and Chinatown, could in theory be arrested and imprisoned if he returned to the United States.

The court move is based on disclosures in a documentary about the film maker, in which the victim, Samantha Geimer, now 43, said she believes Polanski should be forgiven and not jailed.

Polanski's lawyers claim there was a "a pattern of misconduct and improper communications" between the Los Angeles district attorney's office and the judge in Polanski's case.

"This case serves as a classic example of how our justice system can be abused, and defendants' rights trampled, by an unholy alliance between courts and criminal prosecutors," said lawyers Chad Hummel and Brad Dalton, the son of Doug Dalton, the lawyer who represented Polanski in the original case. They said the court should take account of the victim's wishes.

A spokeswoman for the LA District Attorney said his office could not comment because they had not yet seen the legal papers and heard about it only through media reports. "We're looking forward to seeing Mr Polanski in Los Angeles to litigate it," she added.

In the documentary, Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired, Roger Gunson, the then deputy district attorney who prosecuted Polanski, says that in the same position he would have fled the country.

The film depicts the judge, Laurence Rittenband as a publicity-seeker who held news conferences and engaged in extrajudicial meetings about the case. Another deputy district attorney, David Wells, acknowledges advising the judge on how to sentence the film director, even though he was not involved in the case, and influencing the judge by showing him photographs depicting Polanski with girls at a party while he was awaiting sentencing.

The original case caused a sensation. Polanski, already well known as a director and widower of Sharon Tate, who was murdered by the Manson family in 1969, was arrested for having sex with Geimer, whom he had hired for a photographic shoot. He pleaded guilty to one count of unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor; five other counts were dismissed.

Facing a prison sentence of up to three years, Polanski fled to France, where he has remained ever since, only visiting countries which do not have full extradition treaties with the US, including his native Poland.

In his autobiography, he claimed that the sex case was part of a blackmail plot against him.

Feted by the film world, he has continued to direct critically acclaimed films, including the 2002 Holocaust drama The Pianist, for which he won the best-director Academy Award. He is currently filming The Ghost, based on a book by Robert Harris.