Swiss arrest Polanski on US request in sex case
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Thoughts??
http://movies.msn.com/movies/article.aspx?news=433487>1=28101
Swiss arrest Polanski on US request in sex case
Sept. 27, 2009, 8:38 AM EST
ZURICH (AP) -- Director Roman Polanski was arrested by Swiss police for possible extradition to the United States for having sex in 1977 with a 13-year-old girl, authorities said Sunday.
Polanski was flying in to receive an honorary award at the Zurich Film Festival when he was apprehended Saturday at the airport, the Swiss Justice Ministry said in a statement. It said U.S. authorities have sought the arrest of the 76-year-old around the world since 2005.
"There was a valid arrest request and we knew when he was coming," ministry spokesman Guido Balmer told The Associated Press. "That's why he was taken into custody."
Balmer said the U.S. would now be given time to make a formal extradition request.
Polanski fled the U.S. in 1978, a year after pleading guilty to unlawful sexual intercourse with the underage girl.
The director of such classic films as "Chinatown" and "Rosemary's Baby" has asked a U.S. appeals court in California to overturn a judges' refusal to throw out his case. He claims misconduct by the now-deceased judge who had arranged a plea bargain and then reneged on it.
The Swiss statement said Polanski was officially in "provisional detention for extradition," but added that he would not be transferred to U.S. authorities until all proceedings are completed. Polanski can contest his detention and any extradition decision in the Swiss courts, it said.
Polanski has faced a U.S. arrest request since 1978 and has lived for the past three decades in France, where his career has continued to flourish. He received a directing Oscar in absentia for the 2002 movie "The Pianist." He was not extradited from France because his crime reportedly was not covered under the U.S.'s treaties with the country.
In France, Culture Minister Frederic Mitterrand said he was "dumbfounded" by Polanski's arrest, adding that he "strongly regrets that a new ordeal is being inflicted on someone who has already experienced so many of them."
Mitterrand's ministry said Sunday in a statement that he is in contact with French President Nicolas Sarkozy, "who is following the case with great attention and shares the minister's hope that the situation can be quickly resolved."
A native of France who was taken to Poland by his parents, Polanski escaped Krakow's Jewish ghetto as a child and lived off the charity of strangers. His mother died at the Auschwitz Nazi death camp.
He worked his way into filmmaking in Poland, gaining an Oscar nomination for best foreign-language film in 1964 for his "Knife in the Water." Offered entry to Hollywood, he directed the classic "Rosemary's Baby" in 1968.
But his life was shattered again in 1969 when his wife, actress Sharon Tate, and four other people were gruesomely murdered by followers of Charles Manson. She was eight months pregnant.
He went on to make another American classic, "Chinatown," released in 1974.
In 1977, he was accused of raping the teenager while photographing her during a modeling session. The girl said Polanski plied her with champagne and part of a Quaalude pill at Jack Nicholson's house while the actor was away. She said that, despite her protests, he performed oral sex, intercourse and sodomy on her.
Polanski was allowed to plead guilty to one of six charges, unlawful sexual intercourse, and was sent to prison for 42 days of evaluation.
Lawyers agreed that would be his full sentence, but the judge tried to renege on the plea bargain. Aware the judge would sentence him to more prison time and require his voluntary deportation, Polanski fled to France.
The victim, Samantha Geimer, who long ago identified herself publicly, has joined in Polanski's bid for dismissal, saying she wants the case to be over. She sued Polanski and reached an undisclosed settlement.
Festival organizers said Polanski's detention had caused "shock and dismay," but that they would go ahead with Sunday's planned retrospective of the director's work.
The Swiss Directors Association sharply criticized authorities for what it deemed "not only a grotesque farce of justice, but also an immense cultural scandal."
http://movies.msn.com/movies/article.aspx?news=433487>1=28101
Swiss arrest Polanski on US request in sex case
Sept. 27, 2009, 8:38 AM EST
ZURICH (AP) -- Director Roman Polanski was arrested by Swiss police for possible extradition to the United States for having sex in 1977 with a 13-year-old girl, authorities said Sunday.
Polanski was flying in to receive an honorary award at the Zurich Film Festival when he was apprehended Saturday at the airport, the Swiss Justice Ministry said in a statement. It said U.S. authorities have sought the arrest of the 76-year-old around the world since 2005.
"There was a valid arrest request and we knew when he was coming," ministry spokesman Guido Balmer told The Associated Press. "That's why he was taken into custody."
Balmer said the U.S. would now be given time to make a formal extradition request.
Polanski fled the U.S. in 1978, a year after pleading guilty to unlawful sexual intercourse with the underage girl.
The director of such classic films as "Chinatown" and "Rosemary's Baby" has asked a U.S. appeals court in California to overturn a judges' refusal to throw out his case. He claims misconduct by the now-deceased judge who had arranged a plea bargain and then reneged on it.
The Swiss statement said Polanski was officially in "provisional detention for extradition," but added that he would not be transferred to U.S. authorities until all proceedings are completed. Polanski can contest his detention and any extradition decision in the Swiss courts, it said.
Polanski has faced a U.S. arrest request since 1978 and has lived for the past three decades in France, where his career has continued to flourish. He received a directing Oscar in absentia for the 2002 movie "The Pianist." He was not extradited from France because his crime reportedly was not covered under the U.S.'s treaties with the country.
In France, Culture Minister Frederic Mitterrand said he was "dumbfounded" by Polanski's arrest, adding that he "strongly regrets that a new ordeal is being inflicted on someone who has already experienced so many of them."
Mitterrand's ministry said Sunday in a statement that he is in contact with French President Nicolas Sarkozy, "who is following the case with great attention and shares the minister's hope that the situation can be quickly resolved."
A native of France who was taken to Poland by his parents, Polanski escaped Krakow's Jewish ghetto as a child and lived off the charity of strangers. His mother died at the Auschwitz Nazi death camp.
He worked his way into filmmaking in Poland, gaining an Oscar nomination for best foreign-language film in 1964 for his "Knife in the Water." Offered entry to Hollywood, he directed the classic "Rosemary's Baby" in 1968.
But his life was shattered again in 1969 when his wife, actress Sharon Tate, and four other people were gruesomely murdered by followers of Charles Manson. She was eight months pregnant.
He went on to make another American classic, "Chinatown," released in 1974.
In 1977, he was accused of raping the teenager while photographing her during a modeling session. The girl said Polanski plied her with champagne and part of a Quaalude pill at Jack Nicholson's house while the actor was away. She said that, despite her protests, he performed oral sex, intercourse and sodomy on her.
Polanski was allowed to plead guilty to one of six charges, unlawful sexual intercourse, and was sent to prison for 42 days of evaluation.
Lawyers agreed that would be his full sentence, but the judge tried to renege on the plea bargain. Aware the judge would sentence him to more prison time and require his voluntary deportation, Polanski fled to France.
The victim, Samantha Geimer, who long ago identified herself publicly, has joined in Polanski's bid for dismissal, saying she wants the case to be over. She sued Polanski and reached an undisclosed settlement.
Festival organizers said Polanski's detention had caused "shock and dismay," but that they would go ahead with Sunday's planned retrospective of the director's work.
The Swiss Directors Association sharply criticized authorities for what it deemed "not only a grotesque farce of justice, but also an immense cultural scandal."
Post edited by Unknown User on
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Comments
"Well, you tell him that I don't talk to suckas."
I don't know, but I think Statute of Limitations applies more to trying a crime, rather than after a verdict has already been handed down?
Well it is an interesting case. The OP is simply curious if people have thoughts about the case, I would guess.
I found it an interesting read. Good enough for me.
it doesnt matter hes already been tried.
polanski frequented switzerland. what took them so long?? why now??
take a good look
this could be the day
hold my hand
lie beside me
i just need to say
She has said she wishes they'd just drop it and let her move on. She a;ready got some money from him in a civil suit.
I just think it's weird they arrested him now... wasn't he over there for like 30 years already?
yeah as i said. polanski is not a stranger to switzerland.
take a good look
this could be the day
hold my hand
lie beside me
i just need to say
First... wouldn't matter if she didn't... child rape isn't a civil case so it's not up to her.
Second... he was convicted of the crime. He's technically an escaped prisoner.. so there's no "statue of limitations" to worry about. He's a fugitive, albeit one who got to live in a cushy mansion and get Oscars and stuff.
Chuck him in Jail with Charles Manson. They can talk about Sharon Taite.
genius.
Great question!
You're right on point two, he's already pled and then escaped. So it's not quite the same. But the victim has said she wishes it was over and she doesn't care much one way or the other if he is in jail. She's got to be in her 40s now doesn't she? I know nothing about the actual crime.
As to Manson, you shouldn't do that. Manson is innocent. He was framed, a patsy. They ought to release him and put Polanski in his cell in his place so it can be occupied by a real criminal!
1) Polanski's lawyers may have caused the rukus by noting in some summertime filings (trying to get this all dismissed) that the US had never "really" actively tried to get him, to request extradiction from France (just for forms sake) and what not. So maybe the Justice Dept went, "Oh hey, your right -- look he's going to a big Swiss movie shin-dig, let's nab him!"
2) The movie made about it all really does a good job (according to what I read) of portraying the media frenzy about all this 30 years ago -- makes it out to be worse than the OJ trial, and that the judge really had an inflated ego and was seeking more limelight by trying to alter a plea agreement. He fled when his plea looked like it would go sour.... (but from what I understand, you plea to charges with the District Attorney -- but still up to the judge to sentence on those charges, DA only recommends.)
3) Yes, the victim sued and settled out of court ... for MILLIONS ... and agreed to try and advocate for making it all go away. Which she's doing.
4) The smoking gun has her original grand jury testimony posted.
And after reading all of that, I can only come back to -- he fed champagne and qualudes to a 13-year-old, then had his way with her, was charged with some heavy shit, plead to some shit waay easier, and when the judge began to rescind the plea sentencing, and Roman might have had to actually do some hard time, Roman fled to France.
We SHOULD have been pursuing this much more vigourosly for a long time, but I'm glad we finally are. And here in the SF Bay Area -- comments are amazingly running about 80/20 in favor of getting him back here to answer for the original plea and then deal with the consequences of his flight.
That's a good question.
I don't know if the the plea bargain becomes null and void because he skipped out.
They may lock him up on the original plea... while they work up a case for his running out on the sentencing.
If the plea bargain was for something like house arrest... it ain't gonna fly because he is a proven flight risk.
I don't know what they can and can't do.
Hail, Hail!!!
youre kidding right??
take a good look
this could be the day
hold my hand
lie beside me
i just need to say
So what generated this 180° turnaround?
I take it you've been doing some extra-curricular reading?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2009/sep ... government
Should Roman Polanski be above the law?
The Chinatown director's arrest on a 32-year-old charge of underage sex has outraged the French government and his fellow film-makers. But then, France has a long tradition of treating artists differently
Jon Henley - Guardian.co.uk, Monday 28 September 2009
'Jean Genet, the poet, novelist and playwright considered one of France's greatest 20th-century literary talents, was given up for adoption by his mother, a young prostitute, when he was one. Brilliant at school, he spent his childhood thieving and running away from home. Half his adolescence was spent in a young offenders' institution. He was dishonourably discharged from the army on a charge of indecency, roamed Europe as a vagrant, thief and homosexual prostitute, then spent a lengthy period in and out of jail in Paris following a dozen or so arrests for larceny, the use of false papers, vagabondage and lewd behaviour. By the time it was eventually published, his work, a subversive celebration of homosexuality, dishonesty and theft, was banned in America.
Long before that, however, the poet, novelist, dramatist and designer Jean Cocteau had stood up at one of Genet's many trials and unhesitatingly declared the as yet barely published author – threatened by that stage with a life sentence as a repeat offender – as "the greatest writer of the modern era". Genet stole, Cocteau added, "to nourish his soul and his body". Six years later, in the wake of a petition launched by Cocteau, Jean-Paul Sartre and Pablo Picasso, the French president, Vincent Auriol, granted Genet – by now the author of five novels, three plays and numerous poems – a full and irrevocable pardon; he would never again be sent to prison.
The parallels with an Oscar-winning film-maker regarded as one of the most gifted cineastes of his generation, who was born in Paris of Polish refugee parents but spent his childhood in the Krakow ghetto, lost his mother in Auschwitz and his pregnant wife, Sharon Tate, to a famously brutal murder, and was later accused of child molestation, unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor, rape by use of drugs, oral copulation and sodomy are, of course, far from perfect. But they may go some way to explaining the French reaction to the arrest of Roman Polanski last weekend in Switzerland, on an outstanding 2005 international arrest warrant.
While other politicians decline to comment, the French culture minister, Frédéric Mitterrand, says he is "dumbfounded" by Polanski's "absolutely dreadful" detention, declaring forcibly that it made "no sense" for the director to be "thrown to the lions for an ancient story, imprisoned while travelling to an event that was intending to honour him: caught, in short, in a trap". The film-maker, Mitterrand continued, has "had a difficult life" but has "always said how much he loves France, and he is a wonderful man". There is, he added for good measure, "a generous America that we love, and a certain America that frightens us. It's that America that has just shown its face."
Meanwhile, a large group of French actors and cinematographers including Fanny Ardant, Pierre Jolivet, Jean-Jacques Beineix and Bertrand Tavernier have signed an angry petition calling for Polanski's "immediate liberation", considering it "inadmissible" that "an international cultural event paying homage to one of the greatest of contemporary cineastes" should be turned into "a police trap". Polanski, said their petition – organised by Thierry Frémaux, director of the Cannes film festival – is "a French citizen, an artist of international renown, and is now threatened with extradition. That extradition . . . would deprive him of his liberty. We demand that he be freed immediately."
France, acknowledges Edouard Waintrop, a veteran French critic who now programmes the Fribourg film festival, certainly has a longstanding tradition, dating back to the 19th century, of treating artists differently. "There's the notion of art for art's sake," he says, "a certain leeway that's always allowed to the creative artist. In the 19th century it was elevated into an ideology. It's true we have a rather different vision of artistic licence – and, come to that, of licence in love." Agnès Poirier, a London-based French film critic and writer, agrees that "we are prepared to forgive artists a lot more than we are prepared to forgive ordinary mortals". Cocteau's celebrated 1943 testimony at the trial of Genet and the writer's subsequent presidential pardon, Poirier says, are a perfect demonstration of the notion that "in France, creative genius can usually get away with a great deal".
But in a country that has known its own share of child sexual abuse scandals, and been rocked rigid by the horrors of the Dutroux case in neighbouring Belgium, French commentators are well aware that leaping to the defence of a man who in 1977 pleaded guilty to unlawful sex with a 13-year-old girl may not be universally appreciated or understood. Indeed, commenters on many of the French newspaper websites yesterday appeared more or less evenly divided between those who felt Polanski was being unjustly hounded for an unfortunate and long-forgotten mistake, and those outraged by any assumption that the film-maker merited special treatment.
This withering comment by "Acouphène" on Le Monde's website is typical of many: "You have to understand them, these poor stars. What's the point of being a celebrity if you can't have the women you want, whether they're above the age of consent or not, whether they're willing or not; if you can't flee abroad and prosper there while our country's justice system looks after you, circulate freely wherever you want to go to be awarded medals and charms at international festivals, and then mobilise opinion in your favour when things start to get tricky?" (Polanski's French citizenship protects him from extradition.) "PatrickO" wonders: "what would have happened if Mohamed, a factory worker from a working-class, immigrant-heavy suburb, had been accused of the same crime?"
Waintrop reckons that in the face of any accusation of paedophilia, child abuse or sex with a minor, "the reaction of the average French person will be pretty much the same as the reaction of the average American – everyone finds that appalling." But many more French people, he reckons, will be moved to object to Polanski's arrest simply because of the way it was handled. "It's shocking, extremely shocking, that it was done like this, at a festival that was out to honour him; bizarre that Switzerland, a country where he has a house and spends time each year, should suddenly decide to be the only European country that's prepared to take this step, while so many others have allowed Polanski to travel freely," he says. "Why? It's all very strange."
France's famed anti-Americanism has little to do with the official French reaction, insists Frémaux. "I think the fact that so many foreign artistes have signed the petition – Wim Wenders, Almodóvar, Kusturica, Michael Mann – shows there is international disapproval of what's happened," he says. "And it's perfectly normal for our culture minister to defend Polanski. His job, his passion, is to be at the side of our artists, whether in moments of triumph or difficulty. No, we're not denouncing America here – the American justice system must take its course, no one disputes that. No one is saying Roman is above the law, no one's saying that because he's rich and famous and a brilliant cineaste he shouldn't face justice. We're denouncing the form – the fact that he was arrested on his way to an international festival."
What has inspired many French people's objections, agrees Poirier, is not anti-Americanism but "anti-prudishness, anti self-righteousness. There's a kind of feeling in France that America is acting essentially out of revenge against a very great talent, a man who basically never abided by America's rules – even when he was the most celebrated director in Hollywood." The more so, Poirier adds, because a documentary, Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired, by the investigative film-maker Marina Zenovich was widely seen in France last year.
The film argued convincingly that Polanski never denied the charges against him and that they were dismissed under the terms of a plea bargain: if he pleaded guilty to unlawful sex with a minor and agreed to be confined for psychiatric examination (which he was, for 42 days), the American authorities' requirement for punishment would be satisfied. Judge Laurence Rittenband, however, was apparently prepared to tear up the deal, possibly because he was worried about public reaction to a lenient verdict. Polanski therefore fled – as, his victim Samantha Geimer's lawyer implied strongly to Zenovich, anyone in their right mind would have done under those circumstances.
"It's obviously not a straightforward case, says Frémaux. "To look again at this now you'd almost need to put the 1970s on trial. Roman has always been extremely reticent about the whole episode. He never talks about it. But it's clear that the judge told him to plead guilty and do some time, and then he'd be OK. That's just one reason why this seems wrong." The fact that the man concerned carries a French passport and was responsible for Cul-de-Sac, Rosemary's Baby, Chinatown, The Tenant, Tess and The Pianist might also have something to do with it.
Guess they don't do 'tongue-in-cheek' in China
The smoking gun has the transcript of the plea deal. In it the court is very clear that there is no guarantee that if he admits to the crime that the charges will be dropped. Everything I have read about the case says he drugged and raped a 13 year old girl. If you do that you should be doing hard time, even if Chinatown was an awesome movie. On top of that he has been basically evading justice for the past 30 or so years.
http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/ye ... plea1.html
all about sums it up for me. i DO honestly wonder wtf has been going on these last 30 years that next to nothing has been done to return him to the US, and it doesn't matter how much $$$ in a civil case he used to pay off his victim.
Let's just breathe...
I am myself like you somehow
for acoustic guy....
these thoughts seem a very common theme thruoughout the thread, coupled with discussing the actualy case and laws, and possibilities...since it is 30 years later.....
Let's just breathe...
I am myself like you somehow