Swiss approve Polanski bail, in jail for now

GENEVA | A Swiss court has approved Roman Polanski’s bail offer of $4.5 million to be released from prison and kept under house arrest and electronic monitoring at his Swiss chalet.

But the Swiss Justice Ministry says it will keep Polanski in jail until it decides whether to appeal his release to the country’s supreme court.

Spokesman Folco Galli says the ministry will make its decision “quickly,” even though it has 10 days to appeal.

The Swiss Criminal Court still considers Polanski a high flight risk. Its ruling Wednesday said the new bail offer was significant enough to offset those concerns.

The decision does not affect the Swiss government’s ongoing assessment of whether it should extradite Polanski to the U.S. for having sex in 1977 with a 13-year-old girl.