London, Dec 29 (ANI): Troubled filmmaker Roman Polanski has expressed his gratitude to fans for their overwhelming support as he prepares to challenge his extradition to the US in a three decade old child case.

Polanski had admitted to charges of illegal sex with a minor in the late 1970s but fled the US to France before a sentence could be pronounced.

He was taken into custody in Zurich in September this year and is currently under house arrest at a ski chalet in Switzerland.

The case for his extradition will come up for hearing in January 2010.

And now the Chinatown director has released his first statement after he was arrested, wherein he has thanked supporters for being with him through the ongoing crisis.

“In the darkest moments, each of their notes has been a source of comfort and hope, and they continue to be so in my current situation,” the Daily Express quoted Polanski as writing.

He said: “I have been overwhelmed by the number of messages of support and sympathy I have received in Winterthur prison, and that I continue to receive here, in my chalet in Gstaad, where I am spending the holidays with my wife and my children.”

He added: “These messages have come from my neighbours, from people all over Switzerland, and from beyond Switzerland - from across the world.

“I would like every one of them to know how heartening it is, when one is locked up in a cell, to hear this murmur of human voices and of solidarity in the morning mail. I would like to be able to answer all of them. But it is impossible: there are too many.”

Polanski’s message can be read on the website of magazine Le Regle du Jeu, helmed by philosopher Bernard-Henri Levy, one of Polanski’s most loyal pals. (ANI)