Zurich, Oct 20 (THAINDIAN NEWS) Roman Polanski lost the bail application plea in court. He was arrested some time back last month in Zurich when he was traveling to receive an award. His crime was a decades old rape of a teenager in the US.

The federal criminal court said today that releasing the director on bail or under house arrest posed a high flight risk. The director faces possible extradition to the United States for raping a 13-year-old girl in 1977, who is now a mother herself.

“The court considered the risk that Roman Polanski might flee if released from custody as high,” the court said. “The bail offered by the appellant does not meet in its form the requirements set out by the law.”

Polanski tried to offer bail, house arrest and electronic monitoring to keep him under the police eye, but all this failed to sway the tribunal. Even a Swiss chalet in the luxury resort of Gstaad was not considered safe enough to guard against Polanski fleeing the country. Polanski had fled from the US, while serving a term for this heinous crime and hence, the extra cautiousness this time from the court’s side.

“The appellant has already once in 1978 eluded American criminal proceedings by traveling to Europe,” the Federal Criminal Court said in its 17-page verdict, adding that Polanski’s transfer to the U.S. could also cause family trauma and cost investors millions of dollars in losses.

“As a result, the motivation to flee is high,” it said.