Meet Roman Polanski's new lawyer

By Eriq Gardner

Roman Polanski has hired a new lawyer, Herve Temine. Contrary to some news reports, he's not Swiss. He's French. In fact, the private practice attorney is former president of the Association des Avocats Penalistes, the French equivalent of the criminal law section of the ABA. Temine has worked on a number of human rights cases, has advocated for prison reform, and seems to be well connected politically. 

This could be important, as the main counterpressure to U.S. attempts to extradite Polanski seems to be coming from France. In that country, Polanski's arrest is the top news. Many members of the international film community have signed a petition to stop the extradition, and President Nicolas Sarkozy is said to be "following the case very closely."

To that end, Temine told the French newspaper Le Figaro: "We will be demanding that he be freed. Then we will fight the extradition."

The next step seems to be a bail request, although a spokesperson for the Swiss Justice Ministry told AFP that Swiss law only grants bail under exceptional circumstances. Polanski has until a week from tomorrow to make such a request to a federal court in the south of Switzerland.