ZURICH – Director Roman Polanski was arrested by Swiss police as he flew in for the Zurich Film Festival and faces possible extradition to the United States for having sex in 1977 with a 13-year-old girl, authorities said Sunday.
Polanski was scheduled to receive an honorary award at the 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 director 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.”
Polanski, the director of such classic films as “Chinatown,” “Rosemary’s Baby,” fled the U.S. in 1978, a year after pleading guilty to unlawful sexual intercourse with the underage girl.
Polanski 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.
His 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. Polanski’s French lawyer, Georges Kiejman, told France-Inter radio that it was “too early to know” if Polanski would be extradited.
“The proceedings must take their course,” he said Sunday. “For now we are trying to have the arrest warrant lifted in Zurich.”
If he was a Catholic priest, would the Lefties here even be questioning the extradition? No, of course not. Hell, they wouldn’t even think it necessary to have a trial. But because he’s a big lefty celebrity, and the case offers a chance to preach about how “backward” the US is about sex, they go ballistic.
What’s really creepy is that I’m not sure they’d feel differently if it had been their daughter who had been drugged and raped. They’d be honored for her to have had such attention from such an artist.
Well, watching Willy Brown review the case. Lots of silliness being spouted about the process of “plea bargaining.”
Little kiddies and sex. The prosecutor Wendy Murphy is always on her high horse.
As in most things, the kiddies don’t actually care/suffer from the issue under review at all. They suffer from the reaction of those around them.
Kiddies—infinitely plastic. Its why they are precious.
He appealed his plea bargain. He then absconded. That means he dropped his appeal. Sorry, but under our laws that means you get the original sentence.
Instead of probation, it looks like he will end up with hard time.
Does he deserve it? I don’t know. The waters are so muddied by time and conflicting points.
I do think it was very wonderful that Nancy Disgrace kept showing pictures of the victim as an adult. She is such a conservative douche. I’m wondering though, does anyone know where they found a chair big enough to fit her effen fat ass in?
#79, pedro,
babble, babble, babble, … I’m an effen retard … babble, babble, babble, … duuuhhh, … can someone please know what the hell I’m talking about besides me … why does everyone hate me,…
How does anyone attach anything intelligent to that?
Roman Polanski’s attorneys may have helped provoke his arrest by complaining to an appellate court this summer that Los Angeles prosecutors had never made any real effort to arrest the filmmaker in his three decades as a fugitive, two sources familiar with the case told The Times.
He drugged and fucked a 13 yr old little girl in the ass. He knows he will be fucked in the ass when he arrives at a cell within the Ca Dept of Corrections. This is why he is spending millions to keep his ass in tact.
The first poster is right. He needs to go to Pelican Bay and get raped on a daily basis – the filthy little worm.
There are two points that everyone is missing. Someone who should have been charged and served jail time was not and someone has served his sentence.
The Great Mr. Polanski agreed to a plea deal was sentenced to prison, went to prison, served his time, and was released by the prison. Only then the publicity seeking judge decided he wanted to send Mr. Polanski back to prison again for the same crime. That is a crystal clear violation of a legal principle we honor called double jeopardy. It would be exactly the same if the judge in Michael Vick case was seeking publicity, knew that his team was playing the Eagles this week and announced he was sending Michael Vick back to prison. The Great Mr. Polanski, has paid his debt to society, he went to prison and served his sentence.
On the other hand someone absolutely should have been sent to jail. Samantha Geimer’s mother met the Great Mr. Polanski and Samantha Geimer’s mother THROUGH her 13 year old daughter at him, saying “go with this man, do whatever he asks, you are going to be discovered and a huge movie star, make millions of dollars, and I (Samantha Geimer’s mother) will never have to work another day in my life”.
#77, Wes,
Have you and pedro been sharing bottles of cheap wine again? Geeze man, get a life and learn about something.
Polanski didn’t serve any time and, in fact, had not even been sentenced.