GENEVA ? Switzerland's top criminal court said Wednesday it is granting bail to Roman Polanski, enabling the director to leave detention while he fights his extradition to the United States in a child sex case.

In a statement, the Swiss Federal Criminal Court said it had "granted Roman Polanski's appeal against detention pending extradition" -- a decision that the Swiss government said it would not challenge.

"The court considered the bail in the amount of 4.5 million Swiss francs ($4.5 million, ?3.0 million) offered by Polanski, together with supporting measures -- deposit of identity papers, house arrest under electronic monitoring -- as being sufficient to avert the risk of flight."

Justice Minister Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf said she saw "no reason" to contest the decision before the federal court in Lausanne -- the nation's highest judicial body -- paving the way for Polanski's release.

"The federal (criminal) court has taken the decision with full knowledge of the facts ... and has come to the conclusion that there is no flight risk if Polanski waits for the extradition decision in Gstaad," where he has a home, she told Swiss public television.

The Oscar-winning film-maker has been regarded as a fugitive by US authorities since he fled the United States in 1978 after pleading guilty to having sex with a 13-year-old girl in California.

Now 76, the director of "Rosemary's Baby" and "Chinatown" was detained by Swiss police acting on a US extradition warrant as he was on his way to collect an award at the Zurich film festival in September.

In its ruling, the criminal court said that the bail sum offered represented a "substantial portion of Polanski's fortune."

"Regarding his advanced age in the case of loss of said bail the possibility of re-accumulation of fortune in this amount would not be certain," it said.

Polanski's earlier request to be freed on bail was turned down by both the criminal court and Swiss justice ministry, which concluded that the risk of flight was too high.

The court had also found that Polanski's previous bail offer of his chalet in Gstaad was not in line with legal requirements here.

Polanski's French lawyer, Georges Kiejman, said he was "very happy, especially for his children."

Polanski "will justify the bail sum asked by the Swiss justice authority, and he will apparently be placed under house arrest at his residence in Gstaad," he said.

Lawyers for the director are due to ask a California appeals court on December 10 to dismiss the child sex conviction against Polanski, legal sources have said.

Former French culture minister Jack Lang, one of many European artists and intellectuals who had condemned Polanski's detention, praised the latest turn of events, calling it "wise and happy".