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Swiss prosecutors won't pursue Roman Polanski rape case

Geneva — Swiss prosecutors say they won't pursue an investigation of Oscar-winning director Roman Polanski over allegations by a German woman that he raped her when she was a teenager 45 years ago.

Prosecutors in the Swiss capital, Bern, said Wednesday that the statute of limitations for the alleged crime of sexual actions with children had long since expired.

The 61-year-old plaintiff filed a criminal complaint in September alleging Polanski raped her at his chalet in Gstaad, in Bern canton (state) in 1972. The statute of limitations was 15 years at the time.

The 84-year-old Polanski has been a fugitive from U.S. justice since he fled to France in 1978 after pleading guilty to having unlawful sex with a minor in California.

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