Oct. 6 (Bloomberg) -- Roman Polanski, the Oscar-winning film director charged for having sex with a 13-year-old girl, will stay in jail pending a decision on his extradition to the U.S. on a 1978 arrest warrant, the Swiss Justice Ministry said.

Polanksi’s request for bail was denied “because of the high risk that he might” jump bail, ministry spokesman Folco Galli said in a telephone interview. The ruling can’t be appealed, he said.

“The authorities may be afraid that with France being so close to Switzerland, Polanski might escape as he did before in the U.S., but the circumstances are extremely different,” Georges Kiejman, one of Polanski’s lawyers in Paris, said in an interview with France 24 today. “It’s a disappointing decision not just for his lawyers, Herve Themime and myself, but also obviously a much sadder one for his family.”

Polanski, 76, was arrested Sept. 26 as he entered Switzerland to receive a lifetime achievement award at the Zurich Film Festival. He is considered a fugitive in the U.S. after fleeing the country prior to sentencing for sex with the teenager.

A ruling by the Swiss Federal Criminal Tribunal on Polanski’s extradition is pending, court spokeswoman Mascia Gregori Al-Barafi said.

Extraditing Polanski could take several months, Jane Robison, a spokeswoman for Los Angeles County District Attorney Steve Cooley, said last week.

Drugged and Raped

Polanski was first charged on six felony counts alleging he drugged and raped the 13-year-old. He later pleaded guilty to one count of unlawful sexual conduct with a minor after the lawyer for the girl’s family asked prosecutors to avoid a jury trial.

Polanski won the Oscar for best director for the 2002 film “The Pianist.” Actor Harrison Ford accepted the award for the fugitive director, according to the Internet Movie Database.

The director married Emmanuelle Seigner in 1989 and lives in Paris.

In 1969, Polanski’s pregnant wife, actress and model Sharon Tate, and four other people were murdered by members of the Charles Manson “family” while Polanski was in London.

Polanski was born in Paris to Polish parents in 1933, according to the film festival’s Web site. His mother died in the Auschwitz death camp after he escaped the Jewish ghetto in Krakow, Poland, and was hidden from the Nazis by Polish farmers.

The U.S. case is: Polanski v. Superior Court of Los Angeles County, B217290, California Court Appeals, 2nd Appellate District (Los Angeles).

-- --With assistance by Steve Rhinds in Paris. Editors: Jeff St.Onge, Anthony Aarons

To contact the reporters on this story: Joseph Heaven in Zurich at jheaven1@bloomberg.net; Klaus Wille in Zurich at kwille@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: October 6, 2009 11:22 EDT