The AP has obtained documents confirming that the Swiss Federal Office of Justice sent a fax on September 22 alerting the US Office of International Affairs that Polanski was due to travel to Zurich to attend a film festival tribute to his work. The Swiss correspondence inquired as to whether US authorities would be submitting a request for Polanski’s arrest. This revelation has surprised many familiar with the case, since Polanski owns a Chalet in Switzerland and has traveled there many times without incident. Since his arrest, the Swiss have denied Polanski’s requests for house arrest and to be released on bail.
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Comments (1-28) of 28 Add your comment
Child Rapists are Child Rapists
it doesn’t matter who you know, are related to, or work for!
He ran to France to escape justice!
Shame on the French for giving welcoming embrases to people who sexually abuse children!
Didn’t this Polanski character have a very very young woman play in movies that he was involved with after the rape incident?
It is seldom that abusers have one victim…it can usually be traced to many victims. A child abuser loves to abuse and rape children.
Shame on France. Shame on Polanski.
However, do not blame the USA or the Swiss for having a
child rapist that escaped justice be brought back to serve his time!
Polanski was involved with Nastassja Kinski for several years, starting when she was 15. He broke up with her when she turned 18. He was in his 40s.
Shame on them. Polanski was screwed by the legal system back in the 70’s and he’s being screwed now, but people don’t care because they’re so sanctimonious.
His plea agreement was for TIME SERVED. It should be HONORED.
Polanski did not live up to his plea agreement. He fled the jurisdiction. Shame on *him* for raping a child and not sticking around to face the music.
Dan, stop buying into the lies in that Polanski’s lawyers and that fictional “documentary” are spewing. Polanski wasn’t “screwed” by the legal system. He fled before the judge decided his sentence, so he didn’t know if the judge would accept the plea agreement or not.
Oh, and Polanski was supposed to do 90 days evaluation in a psych ward, which was required by law of all people convicted of having sex with anyone under 14. Polanski only did 42 days, and refused to complete the rest.
Polanski has no honor.
What was this “victim” doing hanging around a much older man’s house getting “photographed” without her mother around? Sounds really fishy–as if the “victim’s” mother made a deal with polanski to whore her daughter out in exchange for a role in a film. Then she got greedy, wanted more. Later when she got more, she didn’t report it to the court, so she could go under the radar avoiding taxes. She refuses to testify because at the end of it, she’d be in jail for tax evasion.
The fact is, that doesn’t matter. Polanski chose to have sex with a 13 year old girl without any coercion. No matter how much we want to sympathise with Polanski on this because of his talent as a film maker and what he has suffered in his life, he did an utterly inexcusable thing and then spent decades avoiding taking responsibility for it.
DAVID,
Polanski is not only a film director, but a respected photographer. He did many assignments for French Vogue. He asked the girl’s mother, who was the girlfriend of Polanski’s friend, if he could photograph her daughter for a story about girls in their early teens. When Polanski came to pick her up for the photoshoot the mom asked to come along. Polanski told her no. The mom let her go alone. Yeah, that was dumb, but she didn’t “whore her daughter out in exchange for a role in a film.”
The second time Polanski photographed the daughter is when he raped her. As soon as the girl got home and the mom found out what happened she called the police. The girl did testify under oath in the grand jury, and you can read it at thesmokinggun.com.
The victim didn’t sue him until 1988, and he settled in 1993.
ALL of this information is in court documents which you can easily find online. There is no excuse for you to post lies when the truth is so easy to verify.
to Dan — if his plea agreement is time served then he should come back to get that. What’s so funny is that he is probably going to spend more time in jail fighting the extradition than he will at the sentencing but his greedy lawyers would never tell him that. — Polanski has been living high on the hog for many many years and has been playing cat/mouse games trying not to get caught. He did get caught so it’s all his fault in the first place for running. He has had many years to clear this up and he is only prolonging his misery. He’s an idiot and probably a big sleaze ball too.
Er, Dan,no. Polanski was 43. The girl was 13. He broke the law by raping her. Then he fled the country. Case closed
This criminal is a flight risk, pedophile, and deserves zero leniency.
Polanski – Prepare to rot the rest of your life in Jail.
To John- What in God’s name are you talking about when you say this:
Later when she got more, she didn’t report it to the court, so she could go under the radar avoiding taxes. She refuses to testify because at the end of it, she’d be in jail for tax evasion.
You are ignoring the fact that once Polanski raped THIRTEEN YEAR OLD GIRL, he broke the law. There’s no parity between a 13 year old girl and a 43 year old man. None. Whether her mother was around is irrelevant. Polanski also drugged the girl and sodomized her- cold hard facts you are conveniently ignoring. Shame on you.
I meant to say ” To David” who blames the victim’s mother for the crime. Shame on David.
WOody allen, penelope Cruz all those “stars” who are supporting him are rather weird people. What if it had been their daughter or their sister’s or friend’s daughter. Ah, yeah, the is all changes and the reality of situation becomes clear. THe man drugged and raped this girl seducing her . THere is a reason why kids at that age are not able to really understand the sexual act. Please. THe Swiss should have done this long ago. It was wrong what he did. He will ironically serve more time for fleeing his “sentence”‘ than if he had finished what was left of his original sentence. Hope he isn’t or hasn’t done this to other kids. God have mercy on him.
It’s funny but the people who were Polanski’s friends, Jack Nicholson and Angelica Houston, haven’t come forward to support Polanski.
If Polanski does go to prison, I do hope he is thought of as a 13 yr. old and is there for someone else’s pleasure.
I’m bothered that nations communicate with each other via fax! Disturbing.
Roman Polanski? Hardly worth being called a real criminal! I mean I personally believe that having “sex” with a 13 year old is NOT a “huge” crime. I mean just a few years later in her life, any 45 year old man could have legally had sex with her, so what difference does a few years make?!!. And on top of that, she was probably going to have sex very soon in her life anyway. Heck, 500 years ago, a 13 year old girl was considered to be of marriage age, “prime” for having children. Who cares really how the laws of today are written
So you know what, I also think that everyone should be given a second chance, especially a movie producer. Do you realize how many people would have become successful in this world had they not been thrown in prison instead? I mean, look the guy jumped out of the country just in time to evade so-called justice, then he went on to make a couple of HUGE movies… So look he did OK in his life. Let him go!
One more thing about Roman Polanski.. If any of his supporters had their 13 year old daughter raped, they probably would be in an uproar, but that didn’t happen. So you know what… Who cares!!! Personally, I think we should change the laws anyhow. The deal should be that if you jump bail just before being sentenced, and you become a very successful international fugitive, then they should call it even after you turn 70. Thats’s the way the game should be played and thats what should happen in this case, certainly.
I’ll say one more thing about Roman,and I might be done…. This is a guy who actually paid a settlement to the girl after like 20 years of her chasing him for the money. I mean come-on! He made good on the debt, and now the girl says that he should be let go. I think he should be let go just on that fact alone! Besides, what harm can he do now, he probably cant even get an erection. Look, it’s the way the game in Hollywood is played anyhow. Everyone is allowed to have sex with everyone, that’s the unwritten rule, regardless of age, sex, color, origin or religion. So you know what… It’s cool, just let it ride! Besides, if this were to ever happen to a complete “nobody” like myself, I would want to be let go too! Geez!!
One last thing. Look, the only time a guy should be prosecuted 20 years after committing a sex crime is a Priest, OK.. let’s face it! Movie people and everyone else should be exempt! Priests? I don’t care how long it’s been. If you come out of the woodwork 30 years after you have been raped by a Priest, then I think he should be nailed to the wall. I don’t care if he escaped to the Vatican itself!! Bring him back and nail him! And you know what… If I were the French President and my 13 year old daughter was raped by him, I would say fine, let it be for Christ Sake!
Roman Polanski is HERO RAPIST!!! That’s the way it is and thats the way it should remain!
The girl POlanski was intimate with asked for it to be over. Morally, she gets the last word. Not the neo-western witch hunters. This political expedience is despicable. Let the man live his life, in this case for the good of all as much as he – but even if he weren’t a genius.. Western world is like a giant salem Witch trial these days – and its all about asthetics.
@PM
I can’t tell if you’re being serious, but I hope to God you’re not.
dear champ. he was sentenced to jailtime as part of the bargain. he served his time in jail. when he got out, he fled when he found out that the judge was thinking about overturning the plea bargain. his “admission” was part of the plea bargain. so if his plea bargain is overturned, so is his admission. the media likes to quote “he admitted having sex” which is false. it was a plea bargain, which if overturned means nothing anyway.
dear champ. he was sentenced to jailtime as part of the plea bargain. he served his time in jail. when he got out, he fled when he found out that the judge was thinking about overturning the plea bargain. his “admission” was part of the plea bargain. so if his plea bargain is overturned, so is his admission. the media likes to quote “he admitted having sex” which is false. it was a plea bargain, which if overturned means nothing anyway.
Uh, David, he admitted to having sex with the girl as part of his plea bargain. That was the deail. His admission means everything. Better go bone up on the law.
Who does that! “RAPE’ a 13 year old child, give her alcohol, and drugs, seduce and sodimizes her and then only gets a few days in jail? Disgusting, unfair, unbelievable, and totally immoral! He’s a pig, a pedophile, a creep, and a coward. And, please tell us when did he “pay” restitution for the crime. And, why do people always say, “where was the mom???” Like, how about, “where was her dad, or where were her parents.” It’s sinful that Polanski has escaped justice this long. He needs to go to prison and become somebody’s “Boy Toy!” PERIOD!
please people… i just thinks its rediculouse that anyone can actually defend him… even if this little girl was a sleeze or the mother… and i’m not saying that they were, this man is an adult, bottom line, he should have the common sence and morals to KNOW that having sexual relations with a MINOR is illeagle, reguardless if it was consentual. He was an ideot for either being a desgusting dirty old man, or a dumb-ass for falling for that, i say both… like he wouldn’t get caught… realy? c’mon.
and don’t any of you have children, i’m pretty sure you’d freak if this was your child.
to the poster who said “he admitted to having sex with the girl as part of his plea bargain. That was the deail. His admission means everything. Better go bone up on the law.” A plea bargain admission is a deal made behind the scenes. It is often not an actual admission–it is a compromise reached through negotiation in exchange for an expedient resolution to the matter. This why a “plea bargain” is not taken under oath.
‘This why a “plea bargain” is not taken under oath.’
It IS taken under oath. Here is part of the court transcript of Polanski’s plea.
MR. GUNSON: Mr. Polanski, who do you believe will decide what your sentence will be in this matter?
THE DEFENDANT (POLANSKI): The Judge.
MR. GUNSON: Who do you think will decide whether or not you will get probation?
THE DEFENDANT (POLANSKI): The Judge.
MR. GUNSON: Who do you think will will determine whether the sentence will be a felony or misdemeanor?
THE DEFENDANT (POLANSKI): The Judge.
MR. GUNSON: Do you understand that at this time, the Court has not made any decision as to what sentence you will receive?
THE DEFENDANT (POLANSKI): (No response.)
MR. GUNSON: Do you understand that the Judge has not made any decision?
THE DEFENDANT (POLANSKI): Yes.
MR. GUNSON: Further, do you realize that this Court will not make any decision regarding probation and sentence until after it has read and considered the report and recommendation that will be prepared and submitted to it by the Probation Department? And after it has heard the argument of your attorney and the argument of the prosecutor;…
THE DEFENDANT (POLANSKI): Yes.
MR. GUNSON: …do you understand that? Mr. Polanski, do you understand that at the time of probation and sentencing, the prosecutor may argue that you should be sentenced to State Prison, or be incarcerated in the County Jail?
THE DEFENDANT (POLANSKI): Yes.
MR. GUNSON: Since you are not a citizen of the United States, a possible consequence of your plea of guilty today may be that you would be deported and excluded from this country. Do you understand that the decision to deport and exclude you from the United States is made by Federal Government? That is, the Immigration and Naturalization Service?
THE DEFENDANT (POLANSKI): Yes.
MR. GUNSON: Do you understand that although Judge Rittenband may recommend to the INS that you not be deported, the Judge has not made that decision, and will not make that decision until the probation and sentencing hearing?
THE DEFENDANT (POLANSKI): Yes.
MR. GUNSON: Do you understand that Judge Rittenband may not make such a recommendation?
THE DEFENDANT (POLANSKI): Yes.
MR. GUNSON: Mr. Polanski, before the Court can accept your plea of guilty, it must decide that you pleaded guilty freely and voluntarily. Have you talked about this case with your lawyers?
THE DEFENDANT (POLANSKI): Yes.
MR. GUNSON: And do you believe that you have had enough time to talk with him about your case?
THE DEFENDANT (POLANSKI): Yes.
MR. GUNSON: Have you told him all the facts and circumstances that are known to you about this case?
THE DEFENDANT (POLANSKI): Yes.
MR. GUNSON: Have you discussed fully with your attorney your rights?
THE DEFENDANT (POLANSKI): Yes.
MR. GUNSON: Have you discussed with your attorney fully the possible defenses?
THE DEFENDANT (POLANSKI): Yes.
MR. GUNSON: And have you discussed with him the possible consequences to your plea of guilty?
THE DEFENDANT (POLANSKI): Yes.
MR GUNSON: Do you understand that a legal defense to this crime of Unlawful Sexual Intercourse is that the perpetrator believed the female to be 18 years of age or older? Do you understand that?
THE DEFENDANT (POLANSKI): Yes.
MR GUNSON: On March 10th, 1977, the day you had sexual intercourse with the complaining witness, how old did you believe her to be?
THE DEFENDANT (POLANSKI): She was 13.
MR. GUNSON: Did you understand that she was 13 on March 10th, 1977, when you had sexual intercourse with her?
THE DEFENDANT (POLANSKI): Yes.
MR GUNSON: Has anyone threatened you or threatened anyone near and dear to you, in order to get you to plead guilty?
THE DEFENDANT (POLANSKI): No.
MR. GUNSON: The District Attorney will make a motion to dismiss the remaining pending charges after sentencing. Other than that promise, has anyone made any promises to you, such as a lesser sentence or probation, or any reward? Immunity? A Court recommendation to the Immigration and Naturalization Service, or anything else, in order to get you to plead guilty?
THE DEFENDANT (POLANSKI): No.
+First a note to PM…
PM its time for you ti drink the koolaid. Honestly the world is a better place without your way of thinking.
Polanski DRUGGED the 13 year old girl with qualudes and had anal, vaginal and oral intercourse with her. It was rape in more than just a statutory manner. He deserves punishment. The money is damages.
Polanski has always thought himself to be special, different a rebel,etc…he thought he could break these laws and now he must pay. What is that old Sun Tzu line …the wheels of justice grind slow but they grind exceedingly fine.