A Polish court is expected to decide Friday whether to extradite to the United States Oscar-winning director Roman Polanski who pleaded guilty in 1977 to raping a 13-year-old girl but left the country before sentencing, AFP reports.
The 82-year-old French-Polish fugitive did not attend the open court hearing that began Friday morning "because of emotional reasons", his lawyer Jan Olszewski told the judge.
But he added that the director of "The Pianist", "Chinatown" and "Rosemary's Baby" was in the southern city of Krakow where the court is located.
If the court clears the extradition, Poland's justice ministry will still have the final say.