Roman Polanski Is Arrested in Switzerland

[Big Don]

September 28, 2009
Roman Polanski Is Arrested in Switzerland

By DAVID JOLLY NEW YORK TIMES EXCERPT:

PARIS — After more than 30 years as a fugitive from U.S. justice, Roman Polanski,
the director of legendary films including “Chinatown” and “Rosemary’s Baby,” was arrested in Switzerland on an international warrant as he arrived in Zurich for a film festival featuring a retrospective of his work, the Swiss authorities said Sunday.
Mr. Polanski was detained by the police Saturday upon his arrival at the Zurich airport, said Guido Balmer, a spokesman for the Swiss Federal Justice Department. The director was being held in provisional detention in preparation for a possible extradition to the United States based on an arrest warrant dating to 1978.
Mr. Polanski, 76, was convicted that year in a California court of unlawful sex with a 13-year-old girl whom he had lured to the home of Jack Nicholson and drugged. Faced with a prison term, he fled the United States just before his sentencing.
END EXCERPT
Put his *** in the general population!

 

[Omar B]

I always say, love the art not the artist. He does amazing work in his professional life, "The 9th Gate" is a great favorite of mine, but then pretty much anything with Satan.

 

[CoryKS]

Don't know much about the man or his work. 30 years, though, isn't there a statute of limitation on this?

 

[jim777]

Don't know much about the man or his work. 30 years, though, isn't there a statute of limitation on this?

A Statute of limitations keeps you from charging and prosecuting if enough time passes between the incident and the arrest. He's been charged, tried and found guilty already, so the Statute doesn't apply.

 

[Bruno@MT]

A Statute of limitations keeps you from charging and prosecuting if enough time passes between the incident and the arrest. He's been charged, tried and found guilty already, so the Statute doesn't apply.

Good thing IMO.
Anyone who did what he did deserves to spend the rest of his life behind bars.

 

[Dirty Dog]

This is one of those case where the perp absolutely needs to spend his time in an 8x10 cell with a hairy backed, knuckle dragging mouth breather named Bubba who wants to be his "special friend"...

 

[Big Don]

This is one of those case where the perp absolutely needs to spend his time in an 8x10 cell with a hairy backed, knuckle dragging mouth breather named Bubba who wants to be his "special friend"...

Exactly, let Polanski know what it is like to be raped!

 

[Jenna]

I worry some of you do not understand that there is another side to this that the 13yo victim is not that any more. Samantha Geimer, she is married now herself and has repeatedly requested that the charges are dropped and because every time this farrago raises its head again she has to face the same crap over. I am not saying what was done was appropriate or acceptable no and but I think some of the comments here are overzealous and overpermissive of our own feral natures in destroying society's ills, if you will.

I think Samantha Geimer already obtained compensation directly from Polanski and wants this ended. Why does nobody consider her position? Why are we so keen to push this backwards and then even get this man raped in prison??? I do not understand that. There is a victim here once again typically ignored.

 

[Bruno@MT]

He is a sentenced man who fled the country before he got locked up.

They can't really sweep it under the rug because statute of limitations does not apply. He still has to do time no matter what anyone thinks. The only legally significant way for this to end without him doing time is to issue a pardon. No politician would be willing to sign it, because it would be political suicide for various reasons.

The only thing they could have done was turning a blind eye to him being stupid and going to a country that extradites to the US. Even repealing the arrest warrant would have been a sensitive matter. Apparently, it was known more than a week in advance that he would be in an extraditing country at a given time, which gave the US prosecutors enough time to prepare. Once he crossed the border and the issue of the arrest warrant came up, the wheels started turning. His own damn fault.

And while I understand the plight of the victim, we can't discard sentences just because the victim asks for it. It wouldn't take much imagination for convicted criminals to put the pressure on their victims to make them forgive them in public and asking to let the criminal run free.

 

[Jenna]

No, of course, yet you cannot completely understand the position of the victim if you are not prepared to at least countenance the situation where the sentence is dropped per her wishes.

I am not for Polanski in this case, no. I do think though in such an instance, the law, blind and impartial in its avid execution of its mandate becomes a cold and partially-advised automaton in matters of victims' wellbeing. Still, we get what we pay for.

 

[punisher73]

A Statute of limitations keeps you from charging and prosecuting if enough time passes between the incident and the arrest. He's been charged, tried and found guilty already, so the Statute doesn't apply.

Usually things like rape and murder don't have limitations either. So even if he was just wanted for all this time it wouldn't matter.

 

[girlbug2]

He is a sentenced man who fled the country before he got locked up.They can't really sweep it under the rug because statute of limitations does not apply. He still has to do time no matter what anyone thinks.....
And while I understand the plight of the victim, we can't discard sentences just because the victim asks for it. It wouldn't take much imagination for convicted criminals to put the pressure on their victims to make them forgive them in public and asking to let the criminal run free.

Exactly right. When somebody is convicted of a criminal charge, they serve their sentence because they owe it to society, not just their particular victim. So even if the "girl" has forgiven him, there is a debt to society to be paid.

I have never studied law, but I believe the reason behind this is that A, it removes the criminal from society and prevents him from doing further harm during his sentence, and B, sends a larger message that he won't get away with it. All necessary for the greater benefit of the rest of a criminal's potential victims.

 

[Big Don]

Anger in France and Poland after Polanski arrest

Sun Sep 27, 2009 12:42pm EDT Reuters EXCERPT:

* French politicians seek release of Polanski
* Artists question Swiss motives for arresting director
* Poland considers appealing to United States

By Crispian Balmer
PARIS, Sept 27 (Reuters) - France's political elite rallied to the defence of Roman Polanski on Sunday, calling on Switzerland to free the 76-year-old film director rather than extradite him to the United States. Artists and film makers also urged the release of Polanski, who faces charges of having sex with a girl of 13 in 1977, accusing Switzerland of being overzealous in pursuing the case.
Polanski was due to receive a prize for his life's work at the Zurich Film Festival on Sunday, but was arrested on a 1978 U.S. arrest warrant after arriving in Switzerland on Saturday.
French Culture Minister Frederic Mitterrand said he was "stunned" by the news, adding that both he and French President Nicolas Sarkozy wanted to see the acclaimed director returned swiftly to his family.
"(Mitterrand) profoundly regrets that a new ordeal is being inflicted on someone who has already known so many during his life," the culture ministry said in a statement.
French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner also issued a statement, saying he had spoken to his Swiss counterpart to demand that Polanski's rights were fully respected and that a "favourable" solution be rapidly found.
Polanski holds French citizenship and is married to French singer actress Emmanuelle Seigner. He has spent much of his life here since fleeing the United States in 1978
END EXCERPT
None of this changes the FACTS that Polanski was tried and convicted of rape and fled the country to avoid serving his sentence.

 

[Live True]

I can truly sympathise with the girl having to relive this situation and have her name brought up into the public spotlight again. However, as others have so eloquently stated, the case states thet he drugged and abused a 13 year old girl. The vigor of the comments are based on that fact. If we are honourable folk, then we want to protect those that we deem innocent, it is part of our personal code of ethics and belief.

Yes, people grow up and even change. And I certainly think it is acceptable to forgive Polanski for what he has done, as this girl has apparently done. But forgiveness is not forgetting. Forgiveness is not accepting, and forgiveness is not condoning.

He still raped a 13 year old girl, drugged her to do it, and then used his wealth and connections to escape punishment. Privilege and time should not equate to escaping punshiment when you harm another.

As always Jenna, I appreciate your viewpoint, but I think he deserves to serve some time for what he's done. I also, though, think the victim's name should be left anonymous and that this should be let to die a quick media death. (for two reasons...the victims peace of mind, and the lack of glorification of Polanski's actions).

 

[Big Don]

The Smoking Gun has the Grand Jury Transcripts
The man is scum, a child raping rat bastard.

 

[grydth]

The Smoking Gun has the Grand Jury Transcripts
The man is scum, a child raping rat bastard.

I have finally found a topic I can agree with Big Don on completely.

It is a depressing sign of our times to see pederasts celebrated and defended.... as if they were the helpless victims. There's zero doubt about whether this one did it, yet for the Illiteratti, it is Aux Barricades! for poor, poor Roman.

One hopes misguided "compassion" , and low friends in high places do not result in freedom for this monster.

 

[Sukerkin]

I can only add to this topic somewhat tangentially because my emotional reaction is the same and as strong as many of the condemnatory posters that have gone above.

I have sat on the jury of a case that is very similar to this, except that rather than drugs being used to gain compliance it was the threat of violence. It broke my heart to have to listen and watch the testimony of the young girl involved - after all, despite my rebellion and rejection of it, I had a very strict religious upbringing and the case was a direct line to where my sense of morality dwelled.

What it boiled down to in the end is that there was no hard evidence - it was one persons word against anothers and there were circumstances around the case that suggested that the accusation may well have been a malicious asault on the supposed defendant.

It is highly unlikely that the same circumstances pertain in the Polanski case under discussion here but we all have to try and bear in mind that without verifiable evidence all testimony is hearsay and that is insufficent to make a judgement upon.

We can give free rein to our visceral repulsion at what is alleged to have occurred because we have no involvement and there is no repurcussion whatsoever for our 'pitchfork and fire-brand' reaction. If it ever comes into court again, the jury (if there is one) will not be so fortunate.

 

[JDenver]

While I don't entirely agree on the language used, I do agree with Big Don (and that's a first!).

Not much different than Nazi hunting all these decades later. While I really like Polanski's work........what he did.......

 

[Tames D]

I can't help but wonder if Polanski feels that the people responsible for his wifes murder also deserve a pardon for their crime.

 

[5-0 Kenpo]

Whether I agree with it or not, I can certainly understand the victim's point of view.

What infuriated me, however, is the Hollywood elite's mentality on this. Debra Winger's comment: “It is based on a three-decade-old case that is all but dead except for a minor technicality.”

You gotta wonder about the mentality of people who will forgive brutality done to others because he makes "great art".