娱乐英语新闻:Roman Polanski speaks out about his case, first time in 33 years

LOS ANGELES, May 2 (Xinhua) -- Oscar-winner director Roman Polanski on Sunday broke his longtime silence by lashing out at the Los Angeles County prosecutors who wanted to put him in jail for his allegedly illegal sex with a teenager and asked the Swiss officials to reject the extradition bid.

In his first public statement in nearly 33 years of fleeing Los Angeles and dodging American authorities, the 76-year-old French-born Polish film director lamented that he was treated unfairly, and argued that the "request for my extradition to the Swiss authorities is founded on a lie."

"I am not going to try to ask you to pity my lot in life," he wrote."I ask only to be treated fairly like anyone else."

In several paragraphs starting with a bold-faced "I can remain silent no longer!", the Academy Award-winning director of "The Pianist" argued that the L.A. appeals court reversed its decision on the matter and ignored the requests of the victim that the prosecution be dropped.

Polanski admitted plying the girl with drugs and sodomizing her. A day before he was to be sentenced in 1978, he skipped bail and fled from Los Angeles to France, which would not extradite him. Samantha Geimer, a 13-year-old girl of 1977, is now a married resident of Hawaii and has publicly urged that the matter be dropped.