roman polanski nicked in switzerland

[London_Calling]

Mr Polanski fled the US in 1978 after pleading guilty to unlawful sexual intercourse with an underage girl

Earlier this year, Judge Peter Espinoza agreed there was misconduct by the judge in the original case, but said Mr Polanski must return to the US to apply for dismissal.

The victim at the centre of the case, Samantha Geimer, has previously asked for the charges to be dropped, saying the continued publication of details "causes harm to me, my husband and children".

She has also called the court's insistence that Mr Polanski appear in person "a cruel joke".

It looks, 30 years down the road, like everyone involved just wants to get on with their lives.

 

[Fedayn]

Surely Polanski should stand trial for this, the girl was 13 years old which he must have known was wrong on so many levels.

He's alerady stood trial, he pleaded guilty. he left the country before his sentencing.

 

[weltweit]

Because the crime wasn't one of those covered by their extradition treaties. You wouldn't want them to break the law would you?

No, OK, indeed far be it for me to suggest breaking a law !!

He didn't "have sex with an underage girl", he drugged and raped a 13 year old child! I hope he goes to prison for a very long time.

That puts a rather nastier spin on things. If he did drug and rape her then he deserves everything he may get.

 

[D'wards]

He didn't "have sex with an underage girl", he drugged and raped a 13 year old child! I hope he goes to prison for a very long time.

Just read up on it, it seems you are right! I'm sure in the doc that they portrayed her as a sexually active drug taking girl who did not resist his advances, but was not too keen on the sodomy.

They interviewed her now and she stated she has "no hard feelings" toward Polankski.

It was a pretty pro-polanski doc iirc

 

[Belushi]

He didn't "have sex with an underage girl", he drugged and raped a 13 year old child! I hope he goes to prison for a very long time.

Innit, he was arrested on his way to Zurich to collect a Lifetime Achievement Award

 

[weltweit]

It looks, 30 years down the road, like everyone involved just wants to get on with their lives.

I imagine of all of them the one most hoping he can just get on with his life is Polanski.

He's alerady stood trial, he pleaded guilty. he left the country before his sentencing.

I wonder: Could they not have sentenced him in absentia?

 

[Thora]

That puts a rather nastier spin on things. If he did drug and rape her then he deserves everything he may get.

He told her he was doing a photoshoot for Vogue, gave her alcohol and sedatives, and raped and sodomised her. He was a powerful 40 year old man and she was 13.

 

[London_Calling]

I imagine of all of them the one most hoping he can just get on with his life is Polanski.

To be honest, I'm more interested in what the victim wants rather than you, the judge and even the Internet people. And she wants it left 30 years in the past.

 

[D'wards]

I think Polanski has always been a bit of a pervert - he had sex with Natasha Kinnskji (sp) when she was 15.

He was also out shagging women with 3 weeks of the death of Sharon Tate, his pregnant wife. But again in the doc it said he was devastated and this was "his way of coping" - make of that what you will.

 

[kained&able]

Doesn't seem very neutral of the swiss.

Surprised they extradite anyone.


dave

 

[D'wards]

Doesn't seem very neutral of the swiss.

Surprised they extradite anyone.


dave

They ahve quite a solid treaty with the US, as i've been told

 

[tbaldwin]

He told her he was doing a photoshoot for Vogue, gave her alcohol and sedatives, and raped and sodomised her. He was a powerful 40 year old man and she was 13.

And for years he got away with it has lived the high life. He should spend a long long time in prison.

 

[Thora]

I can understand the victim wanting it dropped - first she's raped, then she sees her rapist not only get away with it but be celebrated, and she's hit with all the misogynistic abuse about her asking for it. I expect she's dreading her children seeing it all dragged up again on TV etc.

But Polanski raped a child and men like that should pay for what they do.

 

[weltweit]

To be honest, I'm more interested in what the victim wants rather than you, the judge and even the Internet people. And she wants it left 30 years in the past.

I can understand what you say and there is some sense in it.

But do you not think someone who has done such a thing should face the consequences?

I am pretty fed up with the rich and powerful getting away with things.

 

[Belushi]

So does anyone know what happens know? does he just get deported back to California for sentencing for the crime he pleaded guilty to in '78 or is there going to be a whole new trial?

 

[weltweit]

So does anyone know what happens know? does he just get deported back to California for sentencing for the crime he pleaded guilty to in '78 or is there going to be a whole new trial?

No idea what happens now personally - but for now the Swiss have him.

I was rather shocked at the women protesting this act outside the film awards ceremony. Their banners and stuff seemed to suggest that they did not care what Polanski had done. Quite shocking to me that was.

 

[keybored]

Doesn't seem very neutral of the swiss.

Surprised they extradite anyone.


dave

 

[derf]

To be honest, I'm more interested in what the victim wants rather than you, the judge and even the Internet people. And she wants it left 30 years in the past.

While he was clearly wrong to do what he did I would tend to agree that her wishes should be respected.
Dragging him into court will create a press frenzy and I'll bet you a pound to a pinch of shit the press will be hounding the lass for a story and making her life a misery.

(The above is of course assuming she's not a grabbing bitch out for cash from the story.)

 

[butchersapron]

Jesus christ.

 

[Celt]

To be honest, I'm more interested in what the victim wants rather than you, the judge and even the Internet people. And she wants it left 30 years in the past.

as this is her wish and she has come to terms with it I think this is so.

as far as living the high life, do you think he ever got over seeing his pregnant wife and others killed by charles manson and his gang?

 

[8den]

I think Polanski has always been a bit of a pervert - he had sex with Natasha Kinnskji (sp) when she was 15.

He was also out shagging women with 3 weeks of the death of Sharon Tate, his pregnant wife. But again in the doc it said he was devastated and this was "his way of coping" - make of that what you will.

He won a $50,000 libel case against vanity fair that disputes that.

I've always found the man pretty odious, though. Stories about his behaviour towards Faye Dunaway on the set of Chinatown on. And while it's bizarre he's potentially facing extradition for a crime carried out decades ago, I'm postively baffled by people protesting about this. He raped a 13 year old girl, I was fairly certain this was a resounding no no on everyone's moral compass.

 

[derf]

He won a $50,000 libel case against vanity fair that disputes that.

That means shag all. Liberace sued the daily mirror when they claimed he was gay.

"Liberace Denies He Is Homosexual."

http://www.press.uchicago.edu/Misc/Chicago/686671.html

 

[8den]

That means shag all. Liberace sued the daily mirror when they claimed he was gay.
http://www.press.uchicago.edu/Misc/Chicago/686671.html

Ah so, lets just make shit up then shall we. The man's a cunt, I'd just be hard pressed to believe anyone would be capable of shagging someone else in a restaurant, days after their heavily pregnant wife was brutally murdered, and come out with a line like "I can make you the next Sharon Tate".

I'm cynical just not that cynical.

 

[derf]

Ah so, lets just make shit up then shall we. The man's a cunt, I'd just be hard pressed to believe anyone would be capable of shagging someone else in a restaurant, days after their heavily pregnant wife was brutally murdered, and come out with a line like "I can make you the next Sharon Tate".

I'm cynical just not that cynical.

There is a better than average chance you are right and the man is a total bastard but an action against a newspaper proves shit.

 

[8den]

There is a better than average chance you are right and the man is a total bastard but an action against a newspaper proves shit.

While a accusation that can't be proven is worth it's weight in gold? He's done plenty of really vile shit thats documented and provable, bringing up potentially dubious shit is completely unnecessary.

 

[trashpony]

While he was clearly wrong to do what he did I would tend to agree that her wishes should be respected.

(The above is of course assuming she's not a grabbing bitch out for cash from the story.)

 

[trashpony]

Whether she wants him prosecuted or not is irrelevant from a legal perspective. Rape victims are considered witnesses in legal terms and so it's not up to them to decide.

And actually while I do have some sympathy for her, I think it's pretty abhorrent that he just swanned out of the country before sentencing and has been living a high profile life of freedom for the last 30 years, whatever tragedy and trauma he suffered in the past

 

[London_Calling]

He's been prosecuted, he's admitted guilt, the issue he ran away from was sentencing.

It would be interesting to know the victims reasons for wishing to leave it all in the past, but even that is a matter for her. I'd imagine many factors come into play and I wonder if the length of sentence might be one of them; as I understand it, it's 'life' in the USA, and I have no idea if that is mandatory or whether it actually means 'for the duration of natural life'.

It's the USA, so I guess almost anything is possible in relation to sentencing.

 

[London_Calling]

This is quite interesting background:

But Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired is a fascinating film and a terrific DVD. The film delves into the story of Roman Polanski’s notorious statutory rape of a 13-year-old girl, his indictment on six felony charges and his subsequent flight from the U.S. in 1977. Polanski’s story reaches much farther back, of course, and is framed by his history: he survived the Holocaust that killed most of his family and endured the murder of his pregnant wife Sharon Tate and the insatiable, irresponsible media circus that hounded Polanski and recklessly smeared his reputation before the investigation discovered and arrested Charles Manson and his followers (giving the press an even more sensationalistic story). That might screw up anyone, but it hardly explains or justifies Polanski’s “relationship” (his word) with 13-year-old Samantha Gailey, plying her with drugs and alcohol before having sex with her. The film doesn’t flinch from Polanski abhorrent crimes (to which he confessed and plead guilty) and the excerpts of police interview transcripts with Polanski and Gailey are discomforting and disturbing.

But that’s only half the story. Polanski’s treatment by the American legal system, and in particular a media-obsessed judge more interested in public relations than justice, is an appalling portrait of judicial malfeasance, a legal nightmare worthy of Kafka and the kind of abuse of power that Polanski ostensibly left behind in Communist Poland. The repeated legal abuses perpetrated by presiding judge Laurence J. Rittenband, who paid more attention to the court of public opinion than the laws he swore to uphold and staged a press conference to announce his rulings in the case, appalled both the defense lawyer and the prosecuting attorney so much that they joined together to have him removed from the case. Polanski’s flight from the erratic behavior and possible punitive actions of a judge who reneged on rulings and seemed to be making up new twists on the case as he went along may not look heroic, but to Polanski it was a simple matter of survival. “Who wouldn’t think about running when facing a 50-year sentence from a judge who was clearly more interested in his own reputation than a fair judgment or even the well-being of the victim?” Gailey wrote in 2003 in the New York Times. She’s put it past her and wishes the rest of the media would do the same.

 

[dylans]

I miust admit I am somewhat baffled by the outrage and consternation that has greeted this arrest. The French government is protesting. The Association of Film Directors and Script Writers has called this " a slap in the face for the entire cultural community in Switzerland". Why? Now, I like Polanski's work. I agree the man is an artistic genius but so was Phil Spector. Spector had to pay for his crime, so should Polanski. As someone has said, it seems to be one law for the privileged and one for everyone else.
That Polanski has been able to work and continue to be respected for 30 years with this hanging over him I also struggle to understand. I mean, he was in Switzerland to collect a lifetime achievement award. FFS.

Sure he has had a tragic life. He lost his mother in Auschwitz, his wife and unborn child to Manson etc. I understand that but it's irrelevant to his crime. He pleaded guillty to sex with a 13 year old in a deal to avoid prosecution for child rape ( which included drugging and sodomising the girl) and then fled justice. This is hardly an old dope charge hanging over him is it?
The comparison with Glitter is a good one. Glitter has been utterly humiliated and destroyed over his behaviour which could be argued was not as serious as Polanski's. Glitter was convicted in the UK of possession of nasty child porn. He also served his sentence. Polanski drugged and sodomised a 13 year old girl, did a deal to avoid a rape charge, fled and managed avoided punishment for 30 years.

Sorry Roman but I think you have to face the music on this one.