GENEVA (AFP) –
Detained filmmaker Roman Polanski on Tuesday lodged a complaint challenging his arrest in Switzerland pending a US extradition request on child sex charges, the top Swiss criminal court said.

"The second court of complaints of the Federal Criminal Tribunal confirms that it has received today a complaint by Roman Polanski against the arrest warrant for extradition," the Swiss tribunal said in a statement.

His French lawyer in Paris also said he would seek bail. "We are asking that he be released, if necessary with conditions attached," Herve Temime told AFP.

The Federal Criminal Tribunal said a decision on the complaint would be delivered in the coming weeks.

The 76-year-old French-Polish filmmaker, who is regarded as a fugitive in the United States, was arrested on Saturday as he arrived in the Swiss city of Zurich to attend a film festival.

Polanski pleaded guilty before a US court in 1978 of having unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor as part of a plea bargain.

But he fled before sentencing and US authorities have been seeking his arrest and extradition to the United States.

Polanski's arrest on the three decade-old affair has triggered an uproar in the film world.

Top film directors including Woody Allen, David Lynch, Martin Scorsese and Pedro Almodovar signed a petition protesting against Polanski's detention, a French film industry association, SACD, said on Tuesday.