Interpol warns alert still out for Polanski

Global police agency Interpol warned Tuesday that a wanted alert still hangs over filmmaker Roman Polanski, despite Switzerland’s rejection of a US call to extradite him on sex charges.

“The United States, which is behind this red notice, has to request that it be withdrawn” before the alert over Polanski can be lifted, an Interpol spokesman told AFP.

He said no such request had yet been received from the United States.

A red notice is an alert sent to police in Interpol’s 188 member countries to request their help in arresting and extraditing a suspect, but does not constitute a formal international arrest warrant.

Polanski, 76, had been under house arrest pending the US demand for him to be sent to California to answer charges of unlawful sexual intercourse with a 13-year-old girl in 1977.

But on Monday Swiss Justice Minister Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf announced Polanski would not be extradited and could walk free.

The United States expressed disappointment at the decision and vowed to pursue its three-decade hunt for the Oscar-winning director.