Swiss prosecutors are investigating new sex crime allegations against Roman Polanski, after a former German actress reported that the filmmaker raped her in Switzerland 45 years ago when she was 15 years old.
The criminal complaint could spell more legal trouble for the Polish-French director, who is wanted by US authorities for unlawful sexual intercourse with a 13-year-old girl.
The fresh charges were filed last week by Renate Langer, 61, the prosecution office in St Gallen confirmed on Wednesday.
The crime allegedly took place in a chalet in Gstaad in the canton of Bern in late February 1972.
Prosecution spokesman Roman Dobler told dpa that prosecutors will now have to decide whether to take up the case, or whether the alleged crime is time-barred because it happened so long ago.
"Time limitation rules have changed several times over the years. In addition, there are special rules for sexual crime victims below the age of 16," said.
Polanski's lawyer in Paris was not immediately available for comment.
The 84-year-old Oscar winner was in Switzerland earlier this week to attend the Zurich film festival, but he has since left town, a festival spokeswoman said.
The New York Times cited Langer as saying that she was visiting Polanski in Gstaad at the time because she worked as a model at the time and the director was interested in casting her in his film What?
In the interview, the former actress and model said Polanski not only raped her in Switzerland, but also one more time in Rome after she won a minor role in the film.
What? which was shot in Italy, tells the story of an American girl who escapes a rape attempt, only to stumble upon a seaside villa filled with a cast of sex-crazed characters.
Polanski pleaded guilty in California in 1977 to unlawful sexual intercourse with a 13-year-old girl.
He spent 42 days in prison, but fled to Europe in 1978 before his sentencing. He has lived in France, Switzerland and Poland and has not returned to the US since.
Because he is sought by the US, Polanski was detained in Switzerland in 2009 and placed under house arrest for several months, but Swiss authorities ended up rejecting the US extradition request.
Langer is the fourth woman to publicly accuse Polanski of sexual assault.
