Roman Polanski

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Should he be extradited for Trial?

Poll ended at Sun Oct 18, 2009 9:10 am

Yes
22
76%
No
1
3%
Undecided
6
21%
 
Total votes: 29

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Loredoctor
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Roman Polanski

Post by Loredoctor »

Polanski's lawyers vow to fight

Oscar-winning director Roman Polanski remains in detention in Switzerland after his arrest at the weekend over a 1977 child sex case, while his attorneys have vowed to fight his extradition to the United States.

The controversial 76-year-old was arrested on Saturday (local time) as he arrived to receive a lifetime achievement award at the Zurich Film Festival.

US authorities have been pursuing the director of Rosemary's Baby, Chinatown and The Pianist for many years. The Swiss Justice Ministry says it is now waiting for a US extradition request.

Polanski fled America in 1978 before sentencing on a charge of unlawful sexual intercourse with a 13-year-old girl.

He admitted the charge at the time and has never returned, even missing the best director Oscar award for The Pianist in 2003.

"His wife and his children were very shocked by the arrest," lawyer Herve Temine told France's Le Figaro daily.

"We will be demanding that he be freed. Then we will fight the extradition," Le Figaro quoted Mr Temine as saying.

"Humanly, it seems to me unbearable that more than 30 years after the incident a man of 76 - who obviously poses no danger to society and whose artistic and personal reputation are clearly established - should spend a single day in prison.

"Roman Polanski has never stopped travelling throughout the world despite the US arrest warrant," Mr Temine said, adding that the director owned a chalet in Gstaad and "visits Switzerland very frequently".

No 'pressure'
A Swiss Justice Ministry spokesman confirmed Polanski was being held under a 2005 international alert issued by the US Government.

A final extradition decision will only be taken after the judicial process has been "finalised," the spokesman said, adding that appeals were possible against the arrest warrant, as well as any extradition decision.

Justice Minister Eveline Wildmer-Schlumpf said her country had to act on the US request and there was no political "pressure" involved.

There was "no other solution" but to arrest Polanski, she said.

Sandi Gibbons, a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles County district attorney's office, confirmed that moves to detain the director were set in motion last week.

"It wasn't a big secret that he was going to be in Zurich," Ms Gibbons said.

"They had announced he was going on the internet."

There had been two previous attempts to nab Polanski when he planned visits to countries that have extradition agreements with the US, but each time he apparently learned of the plans and did not travel, Ms Gibbons said.

Outrage
The Polish and French foreign ministers Radoslaw Sikorski and Bernard Kouchner have agreed to make a joint approach to US authorities, according to Poland's PAP news agency, including for a possible pardon from President Barack Obama.

French Culture Minister Frederic Mitterrand condemned the arrest of the filmmaker, who lives in Paris, and said he had discussed the matter with President Nicolas Sarkozy.

Mr Mitterrand told a press briefing that the arrest was "absolutely horrifying" and the case was "an old story which doesn't really make any sense".

A petition in Zurich signed by filmmakers and stars including Costa Gavras, Wong Kar Wai, Monica Bellucci and Fanny Ardant voiced dismay at Polanski's detention.

"It seems inadmissible to them that an international cultural event, paying homage to one of the greatest contemporary filmmakers, is used by the police to apprehend him," it said.

Dismissal urged
In May, a Los Angeles judge refused Polanski's bid to dismiss the underage sex case after he failed to appear in court.

Polanski's legal team argued that the conviction should be annulled because the judge who heard the 1970s case had improperly colluded with prosecutors. The judge has since died.

The woman named as the victim in the 1977 case has joined defence lawyers in urging the dismissal of the case.

Samantha Geimer - now a 45-year-old mother of three - said that Polanski asked her mother if he could photograph her for a fashion magazine at the Hollywood Hills home of Jack Nicholson in March 1977.

Ms Geimer said that after plying her with champagne and drugs and taking nude pictures, Polanski had sex despite her resistance and requests to be taken home.

Born in France to Polish parents, Polanski was raised in Poland and narrowly came through the Holocaust.

He hit the headlines in 1969 when his second wife, actress Sharon Tate, was murdered by members of Charles Manson's cult in Los Angeles.

Polanski was out of the country at the time.
I'm inclined to think that he should be trialled in court. It's not up to the Europeans; it's up to US justice to determine whether he should be convicted 30 years on. Let's face it - he had sex with an underage girl, fled the country and admitted his guilt. I respect his ability as a director but abhor what he has done. Just because he is brilliant at his work does not mean he is above the law.

But then again, I'm not sure.
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Post by Farsailer »

I have mixed feelings about this. He felt he was about to get screwed by the judge and that compelled his initial flight overseas, something for which I think he still needs to answer for. On the other hand, his victim has forgiven him and wants to move on.
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Post by Cail »

He's admitted to forcing himself on a 13 year old. Try, convict, and sentence his sick ass.
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Post by DukkhaWaynhim »

Yah, I don't care how precocious a 13-yo is, they are still a 7th-grader. That is child molestation.

Now, the fact that the guy fled US jurisdiction is not an admission of guilt, but it means he did not want to stay around for the trial - which carries an implication.

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Post by Earthfriend »

Ask yourself this - if he wasn't 'the' Roman Polanski, would this really be such an issue?

What if he was a used-car salesman, or a carpenter, or unemployed? Would we still be entertaining the idea of pardoning him?

The law must be applied to all equally, or it fails. I know that is the ideal rather than the reality, but it is an ideal worth striving for, I believe.

Considering the facts, who knows whether or not he would be sentenced to jail. (As he pleaded guilty, I'm assuming a conviction would be automatic.) But he should be made to face a court, and have his crimes judged, just like anyone else.
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Post by Avatar »

If he was a used car salesman, would they have bothered to try and arrest him (a foreign national?) after all this time?

I voted undecided. IIRC, he fled after guarantees regarding sentencing were rescinded.

He committed a crime 30 years ago, and on the one hand, yes, he should have to face the consequences. On the other, the victim has apparently offered to attend a hearing and argue for the dismissal. Admittedly, not for what I think are good reasons, but the feelings of the injured party do carry some weight with me.

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Post by High Lord Tolkien »

"Humanly, it seems to me unbearable that more than 30 years after the incident a man of 76 - who obviously poses no danger to society and whose artistic and personal reputation are clearly established - should spend a single day in prison.

This sounds like many of the Ted Kennedy apologists that we have here in the Tank.
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Post by Avatar »

Don't think he necessarily has to go to prison...he probably isn't a danger to society. (Couldn't care less about his "artistic reputation" though.) But that dosn't preclude some sort of punishment.

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Post by Tjol »

A child cannot consent, per statutory rape laws, let alone the use of narcotics to incapacitate the child he molested.

That the victim has forgiven him as an adult doesn't change the crime committed against her as a child. Has a child ever been allowed to drop charges against a molester? Tell me the parents didn't mind that Polanski molested their child, then maybe you've got a specious argument. Right now, I don't think defenders of Polanski have even that.
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Post by Dromond »

Plus he drugged the 13 year old kid with alcohol and a sedative... he needs to be tried and if convicted pay for this.
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Post by stonemaybe »

The article I read today (can't find link, sorry), claimed that not only did he ply the 13yo with drugs and alcohol, she continually made it clear that she wasn't willing to have sex, and he was originally charged with more serious offences including sodomy (which was then reduced to a lesser charge - is this the sentencing guarantee that Av mentions? If so I'm glad it was rescinded) He made some sort of claim that she was already sexually active to get initial charge reduced.

The man deserves to be tried and if found guilty, castrated with a blunt knife, and thrown into the meanest jail in the US with no privileges.

Thirty years, film director, makes no difference to anything. I would hope that with today's views on child protection, even a used car salesman would be pursued for as long.

I'm also disgusted with France that they harboured this man for so long. Well done Switzerland, and the US!
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Post by The Dreaming »

Reminds me of something I heard Chris Rock say after the 2003 academy awards.

"I don't really understand why they Booed Micheal Moore off the stage and gave a standing ovation to a rapist"

Let's face it, the french should have extradited him years ago. The man got 30 years of freedom without having to face this down.
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Post by Earthfriend »

Avatar wrote:If he was a used car salesman, would they have bothered to try and arrest him (a foreign national?) after all this time?
But would he have had the funds and support to avoid Ú.S. law for 30 years if he was not a famous film director? Would France have provided a refuge for him, foreign national or not?

How did he flee the country all those years ago, anyway? Did the relevant authorities let him out on bail without surrendering his passport? And would he have got bail at all, were he not Roman Polanski?
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Post by finn »

I have no problem with the guy being called to account and the fact that its 30 years ago cuts no more mustard than a nazi tried for crimes in 1944: it is after all Statutory Rape and if the girl's testimony at the time is to be believed (and there is an"if" in there), then it wasn't just statutory.

I do have a problem with why. Why after all this time, who's getting a publicity kick here? The US authorities have played fast and loose with this, reducing the charges, offering a plea bargain for what, 90 days psyche? Was he saying he was mentally diminished when he had her? No and he did a part of the sentence....fact is if the charge was solid he should have been jailed then, no bail (obvious flight risk): convicted and banged up for a few years. I'm afraid I cannot see the primary motivation for this being punishing a pervert, cynacism suggests this is furthering some other agenda.
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Post by Loredoctor »

finn wrote:I do have a problem with why. Why after all this time, who's getting a publicity kick here?
Because Switzerland arrested him. Further, it's not the first time Polanski's crimes have been brought up. The difference is that he entered a nation that was prepared to arrest him.
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Post by Phantasm »

There should be no hiding place for paedophiles.
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Post by finn »

Loremaster wrote:
finn wrote:I do have a problem with why. Why after all this time, who's getting a publicity kick here?
Because Switzerland arrested him. Further, it's not the first time Polanski's crimes have been brought up. The difference is that he entered a nation that was prepared to arrest him.
He's been going in and out of Switzerland for years.....!
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Post by Avatar »

Out of interest:

10+ year old article in which the victim tells the story from her point of view:

Forgive And Forget

And from a different (recent) article:
Polanksi Arrest his freedom?

His victim, Samantha Geimer, who long ago identified herself publicly, sued Polanski and reached an undisclosed settlement. But she has since joined in Polanski's bid for dismissal, saying she wants the case to be over and at one point offering to come to court in Polanski's place to argue for dismissal.
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Post by finn »

Avatar wrote:Out of interest:

10+ year old article in which the victim tells the story from her point of view:

Forgive And Forget

And from a different (recent) article:
Polanksi Arrest his freedom?

His victim, Samantha Geimer, who long ago identified herself publicly, sued Polanski and reached an undisclosed settlement. But she has since joined in Polanski's bid for dismissal, saying she wants the case to be over and at one point offering to come to court in Polanski's place to argue for dismissal.
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Irrespective of what is happening in either of their lives now, if you accept the story as was at the time and it appears 10 years ago, the girl was raped, both in the sense that she was a minor under the sway of an adult in a position she should not have been allowed to be in (what the hell was the mother thinking?) and from a legal sense...14yo might have been the age of consent in France at that time, but she was not in France and even if they had been it would still have been illegal, even there!

I almost spit my coffee out this morning seeing that Woody Allen had come out in support of him, surely a man who can empathise. Maybe they could get Garry Glitter and Jonathan King to sign a petition and Pete Townsend can write a book about it!

Time for a Roman Holiday methinks!
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Post by Rawedge Rim »

Polanski should have been in jail for years now. It would have been bad enough had this been actually consensual sex. Instead what we have here is an famous older man plying a 13 yr. old with booze and 'ludes, and not even being man enough to say, after pleading guilty, "Yeah, I did it, and I'm sorry". Instead we have a man who hauled ass, and from over sea's stated that he, as a mature man, was unable to resist the 13 yr. olds advances.

Come on.... :roll:
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