Switzerland’s Justice Ministry announced today that it will not extradite Roman Polanski to the United States, the Associated Press reports. Read the full post.
Jul 12
2010
08:18 AM ET
Switzerland will not extradite Roman Polanski
- Comments 52
- Add comment
Latest News
- 'American Idol': Season 11 winner is...
- 'Revenge': Join Gabriel Mann live chat now
- 'Transformers 3' injury suit settled: $18.5M
- 'Great Gatsby' trailer's 'Zeigfeld' folly
- 'Men in Black 3': EW movie review
- 'G.I. Joe: Retaliation' pushed to 2013
- 'On the Road': EW movie review at Cannes
- 'Moonrise Kingdom': EW movie review
Didn’t I read once that the age of consent on Switzerland is like 14? If that is correct, it would be no surprise they view Roman Polanski as someone who’s not a danger to a child.
BUT this happened in the USA and once a child predator always one….perhaps he has decided that he likes them younger than 13 now…..SICK is what this is all about-and 13 is still younger than 14 so whats your point
Whether Roman Polanski is or isn’t a threat to children is not Switzerland’s responsibility to determine.
THe US has some ridiculously one-sided extradtion laws so I can’t say this bothers me that much. Say what you like about the Swiss, they stick to their neutraility.
The man is a vile excuse for a human being, but he has served his original sentence – and then some. He pled guilty to one lesser charge, and after a lengthy psychiatric evaluation, was recommended for release. He left the country with 48 days remaining in his 90 day sentence. Fleeing the rest of his jail time was the only thing the U.S. could charge him with at this point anyway. He’s served almost a year of house arrest in Switzerland, and there’s no way a “fleeing justice” charge would get him anywhere close to that amount of jail time. As a matter of law, California mishandled the whole affair and Swiss authorities did the only thing they really COULD do.
Hey—another California court screw-up…OJ-Lindsay-not charging Michael Jacksons Dr with 1st degree-letting celebrities serve only minutes of a DUI sentence-The list goes on and on
Actually, that wasn’t his sentence. He was under psychiatric evaluation for 90 days and recommended for release from the evaluation confinement. The results of the eval were going to be used as part of his sentencing. He was never sentenced at the time he fled. That came later when he was sentenced in absentia.
Well, that pretty much sums up the decades-long argument between the L.A. DA’s office and Polanski’s lawyers. He insists he only agreed to plea to a lesser charge because of the promised 90-day sentencing, and that the judge decided to get unfairly punitive after the court-appointed psychiatrist didn’t come back with the results he (allegedly) wanted. His legal team supposedly has evidence that the judge assured Mr. Polanski that the 90-day confinement would constitute the whole of his sentence. A hearing regarding that matter, with testimony from the original prosecutor on the case, is what Swiss authorities wanted transcripts of – and which U.S. authorities refused to hand over. Whether or not that was indeed Polanski’s sentence is what the fight has been about all these years.
it’s pretty obvious (sadly) that justice ceases to exist (globally) as long as you have certain celebrity status. i wonder how much he paid off the swiss officials?? he needs to rot already?
The celebrities get away with anything….
He had sex with a 13 year old-He is a child predator-Let Switzerland keep him-BUT while the USA is at it…lets’s send ALL the child predators to Switzerland along with ALL the illegal citizens (let me clarify-any race,color or nationality that is an illegal) that are in the USA.
If he decides to come to the U.S. he will be arrested right?
The US won’t even know he is in the country probably….They can’t find Whitey Bulger or Bin Laden, what makes you think they will know when Polanski is in the country
Because some loudmouthed Hollywood jerk with money would make it an issue, whether Polanski wants it or not. Besides, he has no reason to come to the U.S. unless it’s to do business…and that would be worth a lot to the right news organization, even the National Enquirer.
We should send that guy from Colorado that tried to find Bin Laden after him.
It wasn’t unlawful sex! It was rape! He drugged and raped a 13 year old! omg…
At least in Switzerland justice still exists. What would happened to Polanski in the US considering that their people don’t even know the difference between unlawful sex with a minor and pedophilia? It’s still a long way to go for the US to learn revenge is not justice. A country who sentences mentally retarded murderers to death has no right to criticize the justice in Switzerland.
I think we Americans understand that when you ply a minor with alcohol and drugs and then proceed to penetrate her vaginally and anally while she is saying NO and pleading with you to stop is RAPE, you utter moron.
In case anyone is interested, the victim herself made the statement that she didn’t want the U.S. to prosecute him, she didn’t want to attend a trial, she didn’t want to testify and bring it all up again. She said she has moved on. The U.S. didn’t seem to care what she thought and I’m pretty sure Switzerland didn’t ask her but if they couldn’t provide evidence to Switzerland and their primary witness didn’t want to testify how much of a court case could there have been?
Sorry, but the system doesn’t work like that. Just because the victim says she wants to drop the case, doesn’t mean a lot.