Polanski

[Haggis@wk]

The Swiss government’s appeal to keep Polanski in jail has been lost The most famous man to skip bail posted $4.5 million and agreed to wear an electronic monitoring device that won’t stop him from pulling a Sound of Music over the Alps:

The director Roman Polanski was released from custody on $4.5 million bail and transferred to house arrest in the upscale ski resort of Gstaad Friday pending a judicial ruling on an American request for his extradition.

Mr. Polanski is wanted in the United States on charges dating to 1978 that he fled the country to avoid sentencing for unlawful sex with a 13-year-old girl in 1977.
A crowd of some 200 journalists had gathered behind a police cordon in the resort to await Mr. Polanski’s arrival at his luxury chalet there. Reporters said he arrived and drove into an underground garage without commenting.

In a statement, the Swiss government said: “Roman Polanski was today released from custody pending extradition and transferred to Gstaad, where he is under house arrest at his chalet. Polanski has undertaken not to leave his house and property at any time.” Swiss authorities initially took Mr. Polanski, 76, from a jail in Winterthur in northeastern Switzerland to an undisclosed location on Thursday to avoid media representatives who staked out the jail as well as the chalet in Gsaad.

Polanski also “undertook” not to skip out on his bail in 1977. How well did that work out? Polanski has carefully traveled ever since to avoid capture, using his money and his connections. He’ll be back in Paris by the New Year maybe even by Christmas, and this time he’ll stay put.

[jamiebk]

He'll skip. The price of his freedom??? $4.5 million. Too bad that some of this doesn't go back to the victim of his actions.

[OperaTenor]

More of the best justice money can buy.

Disgusting.

[Haggis@wk]

Swiss won't decide on Polanski extradition until 2010

I still say he's going to skip

[Haggis@wk]

Noted child rapist overwhelmed by messages of support

[Haggis@wk]

Fugitive child rapist wins best director

[Shapley]

I believe the film for which he won the prize was about holding people accountable for their actions...

[jamiebk]

Fugitive child rapist wins best director

I have no interest in seeing it.

[Haggis@wk]

Polanski never stopped.

Seven years after he fled the USA instead of going to prison for his rape and sodomy of a 13-year-old girl, Roman Polanski “forced himself” on a British actress days after her 16th birthday, Agence France Presse reported.

Charlotte Lewis, 42, said it happened in Paris.

Via Agence France Presse, Charlotte Lewis: “I am also a victim of Roman Polanski. He sexually abused me in the worst possible way when I was just 16 years old.”

Way past time for this predatory pervert to be in prison.

[Shapley]

Is he still languishing under 'house arrest' in Switzerland? I haven't been keeping up.

[jamiebk]

Polanski free, Swiss reject US extradition request

BERN, Switzerland — The Swiss government declared renowned film director Roman Polanski a free man on Monday after rejecting a U.S. request to extradite him on a charge of having sex in 1977 with a 13-year-old girl.

The Swiss mostly blamed U.S. authorities for failing to provide confidential testimony about Polanski's sentencing procedure in 1977-1978.

The stunning decision could end the United States' three-decade pursuit of Polanski, unless he travels to another country that would be willing to apprehend him and weigh sending him to Los Angeles. France, where he has spent much of his time, does not extradite its own citizens, and the public scrutiny over Switzerland's deliberations may dissuade other nations from making such a spectacular arrest.
http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/38200531

[Haggis@wk]

I'm disgusted.

[Haggis@wk]

The Swiss rejected the American extradition request for Roman Polanski. The apparent reason? They couldn’t be certain that there wasn’t a fault somewhere in the official request:

The 76-year-old French-Polish film director Roman Polanski will not be extradited to the USA. The freedom-restricting measures against him have been revoked. This announcement was made by Mrs Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf, head of the Swiss Federal Department of Justice and Police (FDJP), in Berne on Monday. The reason for the decision lies in the fact that it was not possible to exclude with the necessary certainty a fault in the US extradition request, although the issue was thoroughly examined. Moreover, also the principles of State action deriving from international public order were taken into account.

At the end of 2005 the US authorities issued an international search warrant against Roman Polanski due to sexual offence against a minor committed in 1977. On the basis of this international order of arrest, Roman Polanski was arrested on 26th September 2009 upon his arrival at the airport of Zürich and taken into provisional custody pending extradition. On 22nd October 2009 the US authorities filed a formal extradition request. On 4th December Roman Polanski was released from custody after depositing a 4.5 million franc bail and was granted house arrest under electronic monitoring in his chalet in Gstaad.

Let’s parse this a moment, shall we? The Swiss point to no fault in the request. In fact, they admit it was “thoroughly examined.” Instead of acting on an extradition request that admittedly had no apparent fault, the Swiss refused because it might have a fault.

Of course, this is not the case. Switzerland just didn’t want to turn Polanski over to the US for fear of falling out of favor with the entertainment industry, and the EuroLeft that adores the child rapist Polanski. When they couldn’t come up with a good reason, they had to claim that the lack of a good reason was reason enough to reject the request.

[Giant Communist Robot]

There's a whiff of corruption about this. Follow the money.