Polanski Arrested After 30 Years On the Run

Mar 17, 2009
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From the Telegraph:

Roman Polanski, th Oscar-winning director, faces extradition to the US after being arrested in Zurich on a 31-year-old arrest warrant for having sex with an under-age girl.

He was in the Swiss City for the Zurich Film Festival and due to receive an award on Sunday.

But detectives took the 76-year-old into custody after raiding his hotel.

The Swiss justice ministry said on Sunday that Mr Polanski was being held under a 2005 international alert issued by the US government related to a 1978 arrest warrant.

He will not be sent to the US until extradition proceedings were complete, the ministry added.

He can contest his detention and any extradition decision in the Swiss courts.

Polanski was arrested in the late 1970s and charged with giving drugs and alcohol to a 13-year-old girl and having unlawful sex with her at Jack Nicholson's Hollywood home. He maintained that the girl was sexually experienced and had consented.

Polanski pleaded guilty to having unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor and spent 42 days in prison undergoing psychiatric tests. He fled the country in 1978 before being sentenced.

Two months ago Polanski asked a California appeals court to overturn a judge's refusal to consider his request to throw out a 1977 case in which he pleaded guilty to having sex with a 13-year-old girl.


Judge Peter Espinoza agreed there was misconduct by the judge in the original case, but said Mr Polanski must return to the US to apply for dismissal.

The victim at the centre of the case, Samantha Geimer, has previously asked for the charges to be dropped, saying the continued publication of details "causes harm to me, my husband and children".

Polanski, who now lives permanently in Paris, is considered an international fugitive.

His Oscar for directing the 2002 The Pianist was collected by Harrison Ford, who had previously starred in his 1988 thriller, Frantic.

A statement from the organisers of the film festival stated: "Roman Polanski, one of the greatest film directors of our time, would have received an award for his life's achievement at the Zurich Film Festival.

France's culture minister says he is "dumbfounded" by the arrest. of the director, who is a french citizen.

Frederic Mitterrand said he "strongly regrets that a new ordeal is being inflicted on someone who has already experienced so many of them"*.

Link [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/switzerland/6236962/Roman-Polanski-arrested-in-Switzerland-over-sex-with-underage-girl.html]
* The French minister is obviously referring both to Polanski's escape from the Krakow ghetto during WWII, in which the director lost his mother and the murder of his eight-month-pregnant wife, Sharon Tate, in 1969, comitted by the members of the Manson "family".

So, what does the Escapist think?

P.S. I'm pretty sure no one has reported this news on the Escapist as of yet, if it is not so, direct your whining towards the Search Bar.
 

Julianking93

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Roman Polanski is 76 in that picture??!!

Holy shit! I hope I look that good when I'm almost 80...
 
Jun 6, 2009
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Julianking93 said:
Roman Polanski is 76 in that picture??!!

Holy shit! I hope I look that good when I'm almost 80...
I didn't know that he was 76 too. I thought he was maybe 50... But as much as it's bad what he did, but 31 years? I know he's hiding from America but, America probably shouldn't have taken all this time to come to him.
 

Kaboose the Moose

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I read that too. What surprised me was that I didn't know that Switzerland had an extradition treaty with the US.
 

Kpt._Rob

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Apr 22, 2009
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I guess it's kind of hard to say what the right choice of action is here. As a general rule, I'm not a big fan of the morality patrol telling people when they can have sex and with who. Regardless, 13 does seem just a little bit young to be consenting to sex with an older man, and if drugs and alcohol are involved it would, of course, be even harder for a 13 year old to make a good judgement. Obviously the "victim" in this case doesn't feel too victimized, or if she does it's not enough that she feels like pressing charges, and I'd be inclined to say that the poor guy should just be let go after all the shit he's gone through. Especially considering that this charge was from so many years ago. But, it also seems that one wouldn't want to set a precedent saying that it was okay for older men to go about fraternizing with 13 year old girls. So, all in all, tough case.
 

Julianking93

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BrotherhoodOfSteel said:
Julianking93 said:
Roman Polanski is 76 in that picture??!!

Holy shit! I hope I look that good when I'm almost 80...
I didn't know that he was 76 too. I thought he was maybe 50... But as much as it's bad what he did, but 31 years? I know he's hiding from America but, America probably shouldn't have taken all this time to come to him.
For real, I mean, does it really even matter after so long? I mean, really. It was just sex with an underage girl...
 
Mar 17, 2009
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BrotherhoodOfSteel said:
I didn't know that he was 76 too. I thought he was maybe 50... But as much as it's bad what he did, but 31 years? I know he's hiding from America but, America probably shouldn't have taken all this time to come to him.
They couldn't get to him. He's a French citizen, and has been residing in France ever since this whole situation happened. France can refuse to extradite it's own citizens, and in fact, a later extradition request made by U.S. officials had been denied.
 

RebelRising

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I didn't even know this was still going on; I thought that this had been taken care of years ago. I guess we all know what the next Law & Order: SVU episode is going to be about...

Anyways, I don't know what to think about it. If this is a one-time occurrence in over 70 years, it seems unlikely that he's a pedophile. I don't want to judge him, especially as he might have been drunk as well at the time.

Ah, screw it, I'm going to go watch The Fearless Vampire Killers again.
 

Julianking93

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Gormourn said:
Julianking93 said:
BrotherhoodOfSteel said:
Julianking93 said:
Roman Polanski is 76 in that picture??!!

Holy shit! I hope I look that good when I'm almost 80...
I didn't know that he was 76 too. I thought he was maybe 50... But as much as it's bad what he did, but 31 years? I know he's hiding from America but, America probably shouldn't have taken all this time to come to him.
For real, I mean, does it really even matter after so long? I mean, really. It was just sex with an underage girl...
Now if it was sex with an underage boy, especially by someone who is not well known, I'm sure there would be a shitstorm all over the place.
Probably. Then, they would just automatically say it was forced and not consentual.

Michael Jackson anyone?
 

LaBambaMan

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Kpt._Rob said:
I guess it's kind of hard to say what the right choice of action is here. As a general rule, I'm not a big fan of the morality patrol telling people when they can have sex and with who. Regardless, 13 does seem just a little bit young to be consenting to sex with an older man, and if drugs and alcohol are involved it would, of course, be even harder for a 13 year old to make a good judgement. Obviously the "victim" in this case doesn't feel too victimized, or if she does it's not enough that she feels like pressing charges, and I'd be inclined to say that the poor guy should just be let go after all the shit he's gone through. Especially considering that this charge was from so many years ago. But, it also seems that one wouldn't want to set a precedent saying that it was okay for older men to go about fraternizing with 13 year old girls. So, all in all, tough case.
But it's been 3 decades. I think if you can commit a crime and then not get caught for it for 31 years then you should be let go. I mean, the U.S. is just reaching because we want to make an example of someone, and instead of making an example of that football player WHO FUCKING KILLED SOMEONE we've decided to make an example of a Frenchman.
 

JaredXE

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31 years? Don't we have a statute of limitations on things like that? Ok, so she was 13....did he know at the time she was 13? If she was all cozying up to him and everyone was drinking and doing drugs, then bad judgement will be all around. It's not like he drove up to a middle-school and offered her candy and cocaine.

Technically I've had sex with an underage(14) girl, I was underage(14) at the time, but to automatically assume that the girl is the victim due to her young age is ridiculious.
 

A random person

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Apr 20, 2009
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In b4 flood of people screaming for the pedo's head.

But seriously, I hope the US doesn't go berserk on him like we do with child molesters, but that's like saying I hope for a rocket car so I can fly places.
 

EchetusXe

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Jun 19, 2008
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a) she is fine with him going unpunished.
b) it was 30 years ago.
c) the US authorities only want to bring him back to make an example of him and to say "you can run, you can't hide".

For those three reasons, this is not a good thing.
 
Mar 17, 2009
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Kpt._Rob said:
I guess it's kind of hard to say what the right choice of action is here. As a general rule, I'm not a big fan of the morality patrol telling people when they can have sex and with who. Regardless, 13 does seem just a little bit young to be consenting to sex with an older man, and if drugs and alcohol are involved it would, of course, be even harder for a 13 year old to make a good judgement. Obviously the "victim" in this case doesn't feel too victimized, or if she does it's not enough that she feels like pressing charges, and I'd be inclined to say that the poor guy should just be let go after all the shit he's gone through. Especially considering that this charge was from so many years ago. But, it also seems that one wouldn't want to set a precedent saying that it was okay for older men to go about fraternizing with 13 year old girls. So, all in all, tough case.
Yeah, this whole thing is all very gray. I hope they go easy on him though.
 

hotacidbath

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Mar 2, 2009
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I'm curious about what the statute of limitations is on something like this. 31 years seems like a really long time to still pursue this case.
 
Mar 17, 2009
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hotacidbath said:
I'm curious about what the statute of limitations is on something like this. 31 years seems like a really long time to still pursue this case.
I don't think there is a statue of limitations on sexual crimes. Same goes for murder.
 

cleverlymadeup

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it's pretty strange, crappy and surprising. i think they just want to get him and not give up the case, even the girl involved wants the case dropped at this point