Swiss Deny Roman Polanski Release From Prison

[Scurrilous]

Source: ABC News

<snip>

"Switzerland denied a request to release film director Roman Polanski, who was arrested in September after fleeing sentencing for a decades-old sex charge, a spokesman said on Tuesday.

Polanski pleaded guilty to having sex with a 13-year-old girl in 1977 but fled the United States on the eve of his 1978 sentencing because he believed a judge might overrule his plea and put him in jail for 50 years.

"In our view, there is still a very high risk that he will flee and that a release on bail or other measures after a release cannot guarantee Polanski's presence in the extradition procedure," Federal Office of Justice spokesman Folco Galli said.

The justice office asked a Swiss Penal Court to reject Polanski's appeal to be released, Galli said."

Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory?id=8761905

[Amerigo Vespucci]

1. "...a very high risk that he will flee?" Oh, he'd NEVER do THAT...

...er...wait a minute, he already DID.

Good idea, Switzerland. Keep him right where he is until the courts decide.

[Javaman]

2. What I'm curious about is...

why is it only know that all this is happening?

Why did it take so long and what is the reason behind the recent push to put him in jail as opposed to when he first committed the rape and crime?

[Astrad]

3. There's some suggestion that a film that came out last year

on the case raised issues about the fairness of the prosecution. Based on some information gleaned from the film, apparently Polanski's lawyers this past summer tried to get the arrest warrant for the director annulled. Both the film and his lawyers suggested that the district attorney's office in LA had made no attempt in the past two decades to go after Polanski and this was an indication that they themselves didn't feel the case had merit. This was embarrassing to the prosecutors and thus spurred them to attempt to execute the warrant.

[Theobald]

4. Why is what happening now?

The US has never stopped trying to put him in jail. Polanski fled before his sentance could be handed down; he has been a fugitive from justice ever since. France refused to extradite him and until recently Switzerland also refused to arrest him.

[pennylane100]

8. do we not have an extradition treaty with France.

That seems strange to me.

[closeupready]

9. No. And extradition was requested of French authorities in 1977; they declined 'under any circumsta

circumstances'.

[Theobald]

10. No we do not.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

5. It was a cold case

The AG's office has tried to get him several times over the years, without success. I have seen a couple of articles saying that a young LEO (one said Swiss) spotted a media report of the award in Switzerland and did the required paperwork.

Polanski fled from the US to France after he plead guilty. France will not extradite its citizens. He has not been back to the US since.

[BlueMTexpat]

7. This is a big deal in Switzerland, not so much that he was arrested,

but why it didn't happen before. It appears that the very same Department of Justice that authorized him to purchase a house (even while a 2005 warrant was outstanding) also enforced the arrest warrant. There's a question of how and why one hand of the same government agency didn't know what the other one was doing and another question as to how seriously international arrest warrants are being enforced.
Who else besides Polanski has been travelling in and out of the country while arrest warrants are outstanding?
There are some very red-faced and unhappy government ministers right now.

[WriteDown]

6. What evidence do they have he is a flight risk?

Oh wait...

[alp227]

11. I have mixed feelings about this

The facts:
1. Polanski has been evasive for 3 decades, so that sort of makes a case for being a "flight risk".
2. However, he has had a clean criminal record (as far as the public domain makes available) since fleeing the US in 1978.
3. He paid his victim, Samantha Geimer, nearly half a million in 1993, and Geimer just last year forgave Polanski and opposes further prosecution.

[closeupready]

12. As strange as it may seem, it's no more up to Geimer than the 9/11 widows can direct the WOT.

Polanski could have committed almost any other crime, against you me or anyone else, and it wouldn't matter what the victim wants, because he skipped bail. That is the primary reason he is wanted back in the country. It just so happens his crime was really serious.

[proteus_lives]

14. None of that changes what he did.

Or clears the debt he owes society.

[Pavulon]

15. So if the girls dad gave a shit and flew to france 28 years ago

and beat roman to death with a pipe in a really nice restaurant and left that would be cool? He could pay the wife some happy cash, and may not have a criminal record...

I am sure france would be cool with that.

[msanthrope]

17. Polanski might not have even paid the happy cash......running from both the crim and civil cases.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/05/movies/05arts-POLANSKICIVI_BRF.html

[msanthrope]

16. Could you prove # 2 or 3?

As to 2, his very public affair with a 15 year old, after these charges, indicates that he didn't stop having sex with teenage girls. Perhaps he simply took his sex with teenage girls to locales that didn't care. I think, given his pattern, that's more probable than concluding a 'clean' record.


As to 3, please prove he paid a dime, especially in light of this article...

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/05/movies/05arts-POLANSKICIVI_BRF.html

[alp227]

19. Oh my bad

Sorry I didn't check my facts. I was eating lunch, so I didn't think that much. Still there's no doubt that Geimer does NOT want Polanski locked up again. And can you back up your assertion that Polanski might've committed other crimes abroad?

[TorchTheWitch]

18. Apparently, he still may not have ever paid her

Though an agreement for him to pay her X amount of money was made, he either never paid her or avoided paying her for a long time. According to this article, it is unknown if he ever ended up paying her...

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/nationworld/sns-ap-us-polanski-settlement,0,1253810.story
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Film director Roman Polanski agreed to pay his sexual assault victim $500,000 to settle a lawsuit 15 years after he fled the United States, according to court documents

Polanski and the victim, Samantha Geimer, reached the deal in October 1993. The terms of the settlement were confidential, but the amount was disclosed in court documents because of a two-year struggle to get Polanski to pay.

Court records, which were provided to media outlets Friday, do not indicate if Polanski ever paid. The last court filing in August 1996 shows Polanski, now 76, owed Geimer $604,416.22, including interest.

...

If Polanski hasn't paid over the past 14 years, it's unclear if he would have to pay interest. The court documents state he'd owe $128.42 per day, for a total of about $650,000.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

20. Err, not quite

He was convicted of sex crimes against a minor and fled before sentencing. He is not going to be prosecuted, he is going to be sentenced and will serve whatever that sentence turns out to be.

He has never paid the victim anything, though there was an agreement to do so.

[proteus_lives]

13. Good!

Huzzah for the Swiss! He would definitely run.