Swiss arrest Polanski in 1977 sex case

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Associated Press

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."

Balmer said the U.S. would now have 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 in "provisional detention for extradition," but added 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 lived for the past three decades in France, where his career has continued to flourish, and he received a directing Oscar in absentia for the 2002 movie "The Pianist."

Polanski has not been extradited from France because his crime reportedly was not covered under treaties between the United States and France.

He has avoided traveling to countries likely to extradite him. For instance, he testified by video link from Paris in a 2005 libel trial in London against Vanity Fair magazine because he did not want to enter Britain for fear of being arrested.

In Paris, 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."

Those comments referred to the fact that Polanski, a native of France who was taken to Poland by his parents, escaped Krakow's Jewish ghetto as a child and lived off the charity of strangers. His mother died at the Auschwitz Nazi death camp.

Mitterrand's ministry said Sunday that he was 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."

Polanski 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.

Zurich Film Festival organizers said Polanski's detention had caused "shock and dismay," but said 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."

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/200...27polanski.html

[KarenCee 3]

Yeah, I read that. I would have thought there was a statute of limitations on something like this?

[Nagishkaw 510]

[Danno 1,228]

Seems like it happened so long ago... one kinda says "ahhh, lets move on".

But on the other hand we have a guy who intoxicated and drugged this girl and then proceeded to rape and sodomize her.

He is in a very powerful position in his industry..... one would have to assume there were other victims as well who have not come forward, does someone do something like this just one time?

[Krikit 1,166]

42 days for " ....plying a 13 year old girl with champagne and part of a Quaalude pill and, despite her protests, performing oral sex, intercourse, and sodomy on her." Are you KIDDING me??? He needs to be extradited.

[KarenCee 3]

42 days for " ....plying a 13 year old girl with champagne and part of a Quaalude pill and, despite her protests, performing oral sex, intercourse, and sodomy on her." Are you KIDDING me??? He needs to be extradited.

I agree! But I wonder with this being a 31 year old case...I hope there isn't a statute of limitations on something like this.

[mawilson 2,133]

42 days for " ....plying a 13 year old girl with champagne and part of a Quaalude pill and, despite her protests, performing oral sex, intercourse, and sodomy on her." Are you KIDDING me??? He needs to be extradited.

I agree! But I wonder with this being a 31 year old case...I hope there isn't a statute of limitations on something like this.

I hope there is. #######

[Nagishkaw 510]

Good thing he isnt being sent to Poland.

[KarenCee 3]

42 days for " ....plying a 13 year old girl with champagne and part of a Quaalude pill and, despite her protests, performing oral sex, intercourse, and sodomy on her." Are you KIDDING me??? He needs to be extradited.

I agree! But I wonder with this being a 31 year old case...I hope there isn't a statute of limitations on something like this.

I hope there is. #######

....so you're saying he shouldn't pay the consequences of this crime...regardless of the amount of time that has passed? So just pretend for a second...you have a child and your child has been violated like this and the perp skipped the country and now, years later he is being extradited back to the U.S. You're going to let it go? Not want him to pay the consequences?

[Gary and Alla 3,696]

Yeah, I read that. I would have thought there was a statute of limitations on something like this?

so what would you suggest as the limitation on raping an underage girl. Just curious.

[spookyturtle 9,466]

Michael Skakel was convicted in 2002 for the 1975 murder of Martha Moxley, a crime that was committed when he was 15 as was the victim. He was sentenced to 20 years to life. Why should Polanski get of Scott free?

[KarenCee 3]

Yeah, I read that. I would have thought there was a statute of limitations on something like this?

so what would you suggest as the limitation on raping an underage girl. Just curious.

There shouldn't be ANY. I was merely stating that this might be an issue?

[Krikit 1,166]

42 days for " ....plying a 13 year old girl with champagne and part of a Quaalude pill and, despite her protests, performing oral sex, intercourse, and sodomy on her." Are you KIDDING me??? He needs to be extradited.

I agree! But I wonder with this being a 31 year old case...I hope there isn't a statute of limitations on something like this.

I'm pretty sure there isn't one when it involves a child. If it had been an adult who was raped, then I believe there is one. Don't quote me on this, though!

[mawilson 2,133]

42 days for " ....plying a 13 year old girl with champagne and part of a Quaalude pill and, despite her protests, performing oral sex, intercourse, and sodomy on her." Are you KIDDING me??? He needs to be extradited.

I agree! But I wonder with this being a 31 year old case...I hope there isn't a statute of limitations on something like this.

I hope there is. #######

....so you're saying he shouldn't pay the consequences of this crime...regardless of the amount of time that has passed? So just pretend for a second...you have a child and your child has been violated like this and the perp skipped the country and now, years later he is being extradited back to the U.S. You're going to let it go? Not want him to pay the consequences?

The sex was consensual, so there was no crime, just legal BS.

[KarenCee 3]

42 days for " ....plying a 13 year old girl with champagne and part of a Quaalude pill and, despite her protests, performing oral sex, intercourse, and sodomy on her." Are you KIDDING me??? He needs to be extradited.

I agree! But I wonder with this being a 31 year old case...I hope there isn't a statute of limitations on something like this.

I hope there is. #######

....so you're saying he shouldn't pay the consequences of this crime...regardless of the amount of time that has passed? So just pretend for a second...you have a child and your child has been violated like this and the perp skipped the country and now, years later he is being extradited back to the U.S. You're going to let it go? Not want him to pay the consequences?

The sex was consensual, so there was no crime, just legal BS.

Somehow I doubt that, if he drugged her how could it be consensual. Besides, her age alone makes it a felony. Haven't you read the news lately?