Roman Polanski Arrested

[The Stryker]

ZURICH — 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."

Well, It's about damn time.

[Type 97 Chi-ha]

Thanks for brightening up my day!

Until I saw this, I thought it was consensual sex with an underage girl. Now I learned it wasn't just statutory rape, it was plain unadulterated rape! I can't believe that people would have turned a blind eye to that fact!

[GK Punk]

Too bad it's so many years late. Bastard had it coming.

[Sewer Bull]

Too bad his victim and her family are going to be traumatized by that again, thanks to the wide media coverage.

[Voltron]

I thought there was statutes of limitations on rape?

[Type 97 Chi-ha]

Originally Posted by Voltron

I thought there was statutes of limitations on rape?

I believe the idea of "statutes of limitations" applies to when a crime is commited, and how much time has passed until one can no longer be prosecuted for that particular crime. I'm no legal expert though.

In Polanski's case, he was arrested and charged right afterward, and fled the country after he was convicted. Technically he's a fugitive.

[kyabetsu]

According to the Washington post article though, Europe apparently has a different set of rules governing statutes of limitations.

Originally Posted by The French gov't in particular mentioned:

The former culture minister, Jack Lang, called the arrest "unimaginable and disproportionate." He added, "I cannot believe that, 20 years after an affair that would be considered in Europe as benefiting from a statute of limitations, Swiss authorities arrested Roman Polanski as he was getting ready to receive a prize."

The crime was committed in the US, prosecuted in the US, and ultimately Mr. Polanski is a fugitive from the US courts, but this may go a long way in explaining where the confusion and outrage from Mr. Polanski's supporters stems from.

If you've got different systems for applying punishments, then there's bound to be some international frustration when a favored celebrity is caught up in some one else's criminal justice laws. (Like when that US kid was caned by Sri Lanka's legal system for littering or graffiti about 10 years ago... HUGE outrage here in the US. But he broke that country's laws, so he took that country's punishment.)

It's just a little weird to hear protests from Poland after their huge announcement about mandatory chemical castration for pedophiles. I suppose at 76, Mr. Polanski is already naturally hormonally castrated, but nations don't pass laws like that without making a significant judgment on all predatory sexual deviants.

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

Talking of Charles Manson, I recall some moral panic or something when the Guns N' Roses performed one of his songs back in 1993 or something.

[GK Punk]

Originally Posted by J 1982

Talking of Charles Manson, I recall some moral panic or something when the Guns N' Roses performed one of his songs back in 1993 or something.

It was a hidden track on "The Spaghetti Incident?"

[Type 97 Chi-ha]

Originally Posted by J 1982

Talking of Charles Manson, I recall some moral panic or something when the Guns N' Roses performed one of his songs back in 1993 or something.

I read that the whole thing was Axl Rose's idea and that all the other band members objected to it.

[Shipoopi02]

What Polanski did was wrong, regardless of the fact that he is famous filmmaker. Lock him away. It's about time another country grew a backbone and catch him.

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

Originally Posted by GK

It was a hidden track on "The Spaghetti Incident?"

Did they ever perform it live?

[Spitfire]

It's great they put effort into catching a one time inactive rapist instead of catching the thousands of other serial rapist still loose. He got what he had coming but resources could have been better used.

[GK Punk]

Originally Posted by Type 97 Chi-ha

I read that the whole thing was Axl Rose's idea and that all the other band members objected to it.

Much like everything they did starting with most of the production of the tour that followed UYI.

Originally Posted by J 1982

Did they ever perform it live?

I've never seen or heard a live performance of it, and I have quite the collection of GNR bootlegs. It came out towards the end of GNR's last tour cycle (Not counting the current Axl GNR.) so I doubt they ever did.

[Type 97 Chi-ha]

Originally Posted by Spitfire

It's great they put effort into catching a one time inactive rapist instead of catching the thousands of other serial rapist still loose. He got what he had coming but resources could have been better used.

No, there was a very good reason to arrest him-namely to prove that a convicted sex offender cannot get away with it because of fame and fortune. And he has been getting away with it. Time for him to face the consequences.

[Type 97 Chi-ha]

http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/eu...dal/index.html

And now for some news from France: the true character of one of Polanski's apologists.

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

Originally Posted by GK

It was a hidden track on "The Spaghetti Incident?"

It must have been this song http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Look_at_Your_Game,_Girl