Roman Polanski Finally Arrested.

[Dahak]

An additional benefit of him being arrested in Switzerland is that it seems the Swiss extradition treaty doesn't contain a condition that people may only be extradited if the crime is not becoming time-barred, which seems to be a condition in the treaties with most of the European ones. And since it seems that it is not time-barred in the US, an unlucky choice of travel location for him.

[Solauren]

You know what this really gets down to?

The man confessed, and then ran to avoid detention, and managed to avoid detention for 30 years.

It's almost that simple. The story I've heard repeatedly is that he'd arranged a plea bargain in exchange for his confession, and later got word that the agreement was going to be ignored, and he would get a much harsher sentence than what had been negotiated. So, instead of taking one up the ass -- perhaps just as literally as figuratively -- he fled. In his shoes I might have done the same thing, as it's better for him to contest the decision to void the plea bargain from the comfort of his French villa than an 8' x 10' cell.

This does not mitigate the circumstances of his original crimes, but it does explain why he didn't hang around to face the music.

He claims there was a plea bargain.

Forgive me if I don't believe him. There is a reason attorney's (especially defense attorney's) make photocopies of that kind of documentation. It's to avoid people backing out of them.

So, either he's lying (which, given the crime, I find highly likely), OR his defense attorney is/was a complete idiot for not making copies of the agreement in triplicate (or more).

[[R_H]]

I'm still asking myself, why the fuck the fucking French and Polish governments are opening their whore-mouths about this. "Oh yeah, you're all equal before the law, except if you're rich. Then we'll whine and bitch on your behalf.", I guess Liberté, égalité, fraternité n'existe pas. And fuck those cunts who say "Oh, his victim forgave him, and it happened so long ago." Shit like that isn't easily forgotten.

[CaptainChewbacca]

I'm still asking myself, why the fuck the fucking French and Polish governments are opening their whore-mouths about this. "Oh yeah, you're all equal before the law, except if you're rich. Then we'll whine and bitch on your behalf.", I guess Liberté, égalité, fraternité n'existe pas. And fuck those cunts who say "Oh, his victim forgave him, and it happened so long ago." Shit like that isn't easily forgotten.

He's polish by birth, and he's a french citizen. Their governments know they can score points with their people by speaking on his behalf, and they also know it won't do any good.

[General Zod]

I'm still asking myself, why the fuck the fucking French and Polish governments are opening their whore-mouths about this. "Oh yeah, you're all equal before the law, except if you're rich. Then we'll whine and bitch on your behalf.", I guess Liberté, égalité, fraternité n'existe pas. And fuck those cunts who say "Oh, his victim forgave him, and it happened so long ago." Shit like that isn't easily forgotten.

If the victim doesn't care about pressing charges at this point, what can you really do? The best you can hope for is nailing him with running, if that.

[neoolong]

He claims there was a plea bargain.

Forgive me if I don't believe him. There is a reason attorney's (especially defense attorney's) make photocopies of that kind of documentation. It's to avoid people backing out of them.

So, either he's lying (which, given the crime, I find highly likely), OR his defense attorney is/was a complete idiot for not making copies of the agreement in triplicate (or more).

I believe that the judge that covered Polanski's appeal said that there was "substantial misconduct" with the original trial. So it would appear that something was fishy with the original handling.

I don't know the levels, has anybody seen Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired?

[[R_H]]

I'm still asking myself, why the fuck the fucking French and Polish governments are opening their whore-mouths about this. "Oh yeah, you're all equal before the law, except if you're rich. Then we'll whine and bitch on your behalf.", I guess Liberté, égalité, fraternité n'existe pas. And fuck those cunts who say "Oh, his victim forgave him, and it happened so long ago." Shit like that isn't easily forgotten.

He's polish by birth, and he's a french citizen. Their governments know they can score points with their people by speaking on his behalf, and they also know it won't do any good.

If my government defended an admitted kiddy-fiddler, famous or not, I wouldn't be too please about it. Are they trying to score points with the pedophiles/pedophile sympathizing segment of the population?

[Thanas]

Every Government defends its citizens, no matter how vile they might be. It is SOP.

[[R_H]]

He'd apparently visited Switzerland repeatedly, before, without being arrested. I wonder if his arrest now was the result of some kind of deal over the whole recent Swiss banking taxation imbroglio between the US and Switzerland? Did the Swiss change their extradition laws in general over that? That could have been the cause for his arrest. Expect him to manage to remain in Switzerland fighting the charges in their courts for some time, though.

The extradition agreement has been in effect since the late nineties. The reason given for his arrest now, was that he announced his visit. The taxation agreements being motive for the arrest isn't likely, since the OCED took Switzerland off the "gray list" off tax oases before Polanski's arrest.

Every Government defends its citizens, no matter how vile they might be. It is SOP.

Why, bother doing so if the citizen has admitted to commiting the crime?

[Thanas]

Every Government defends its citizens, no matter how vile they might be. It is SOP.

Why, bother doing so if the citizen has admitted to commiting the crime?

Because that has no impact on citizenship.

[DaveJB]

Also, you know the level of Francophobia that exists in the US? Well, by all accounts the feeling is decidedly mutual. If another country and/or a less high-profile figure was involved then the French government might be more inclined to co-operate, but for obvious reasons they've never been too bothered about giving Polanski up.

[Anguirus]

Are you saying that Broomstick is not 'downgrading' in this post? She straight up says she feels it is just rape, not pedophilia.

Rape is an action. Pedophilia is a state of sexual desire.

She merely said that this particular rape (which, due to the young age of the victim, was also an act of child molestation) was probably not motivated by pedophilia.

In other news, words mean things.

What? Thinking Polanski is a disgusting child molester who used his status to procure, drug and rape a 13 year old girl makes me a bad person now? I think quibbling over whether or not the victims titties mitigates his crime is retarded, so you think I'm knee-jerking? Fuck off and die.

Ps, I know a 13 year old girl with big tits RIGHT NOW. Guess I should go fuck her then, because it's not -really- pedophilia, because <insert amateur psychology>. OH WAIT!

I have dim memories of when you used to contribute to threads, but I can't decide if that's my imagination or not. Just to repeat this for clarity, the suggestion that Polanski's crime is in any way "mitigated" by his probably not being a pedophile is something that you pulled out of your ass to score rhetorical points.

[Elfdart]

I haven't looked into this in any detail but I think UK Law omits the use of the words like paedofilia in it's sentencing of sex offenders and just uses phrases like "Sex with a minor under the age of [insert value here]". With different levels of offense between the ages of 16 and 13. Or at least that's how the sentence is given in news papers (who then add their own verdict)

Is US law worded significantly different?

We have fifty different state laws covering the same crimes, plus federal laws for territories, Indian Reservations and the District of Columbia. For example, Texas has a "Romeo & Juliet" provision in its age of consent laws, so an 18-year-old who gets to second base (or further) with his or her 16-year-old prom date, but other states like Georgia do not.

If the victim doesn't care about pressing charges at this point, what can you really do? The best you can hope for is nailing him with running, if that.

Polanski was already convicted, so that doesn't matter. The feds could nail his balls to the wall for flight, though.

As far as the hairsplitting over whether Polanski meets the clinical definition of the word pedophile is concerned, I'll just refer to creeps like Polanski as child fuckers or child rapists from now on. Is that better?

[Atlan]

I'm still asking myself, why the fuck the fucking French and Polish governments are opening their whore-mouths about this. "Oh yeah, you're all equal before the law, except if you're rich. Then we'll whine and bitch on your behalf.", I guess Liberté, égalité, fraternité n'existe pas. And fuck those cunts who say "Oh, his victim forgave him, and it happened so long ago." Shit like that isn't easily forgotten.

If the victim doesn't care about pressing charges at this point, what can you really do? The best you can hope for is nailing him with running, if that.

Oh for crying out loud.
First. The state can and often WILL prosecute someone even though the victim may not want to press charges. Rape of a minor being a prime example of this. If there is enough evidence of a felony, that trial will go on regardless.
Second. He's already been convicted. It's all over but for the extradition and the kicking him into jail. And maybe hitting him with another trail to cover his running away, so that they can add some more years to his sentence.

And good riddance to bad rubbish, if he is extradited.

Also, I love all the people here who declare the victim to be looking fairly mature for her age, based upon one somewhat blurry low res B&W photograph.

[General Zod]

First. The state can and often WILL prosecute someone even though the victim may not want to press charges. Rape of a minor being a prime example of this. If there is enough evidence of a felony, that trial will go on regardless.
Second. He's already been convicted. It's all over but for the extradition and the kicking him into jail. And maybe hitting him with another trail to cover his running away, so that they can add some more years to his sentence.

And good riddance to bad rubbish, if he is extradited.

It just seems rather strange that they'd wait over 30 years to follow up on the warrant.

Also, I love all the people here who declare the victim to be looking fairly mature for her age, based upon one somewhat blurry low res B&W photograph.

I'm kind of baffled on that one myself. Even with just that photo there's no fucking way you can mistake her as mature. The face just screams jailbait.

[Atlan]

It just seems rather strange that they'd wait over 30 years to follow up on the warrant.

They didn't. He's just been real careful not to go anywhere that would actually extradite him, or made only fast unannounced visits.

I'm kind of baffled on that one myself. Even with just that photo there's no fucking way you can mistake her as mature. The face just screams jailbait.

Bingo. At the very least she's jailbait, at the worst that's just a posed picture and she normally looked every bit her thirteen years of age.

[MKSheppard]

If the victim doesn't care about pressing charges at this point, what can you really do? The best you can hope for is nailing him with running, if that.

Except he was already tried and convicted, you dumbshit. Sentencing should be goddamn fun.

[General Zod]

If the victim doesn't care about pressing charges at this point, what can you really do? The best you can hope for is nailing him with running, if that.

Except he was already tried and convicted, you dumbshit.

Did you have some kind of point that hasn't already been addressed or did you just really feel like chiming in for an easy +1?

[MKSheppard]

Some points people are forgetting:

From a DU Poster:

People tend to forget the actual circumstances. He plied her with alcohol & drugs, and yet she still refused his advances. She told him no repeatedly, and only shut up when she realized that she resigned herself to the fact that she was going to be raped. She was crying and was telling him to stop, and yet he did it anyway. When she pointed out that she could get pregnant, he pulled out and raped her in the ass.

[Akkleptos]

Also, I love all the people here who declare the victim to be looking fairly mature for her age, based upon one somewhat blurry low res B&W photograph.

I'm kind of baffled on that one myself. Even with just that photo there's no fucking way you can mistake her as mature. The face just screams jailbait.

Look, people: Broomstick is merely asserting the very obvious fact that normal men, not necessarily pædophiles -by either psychiatric or legal definitions- can sometimes feel sexually attracted to non-fully developed teen girls. And most certainly never did she claim that the girl en questions could have ever been mistaken for an adult.

She did, in fact, proceed to explain that normal, moral men do not act on said attraction, whereas Mr. Polanski did, in a criminal, despicable and completely punishable way, regardless of how one chooses to call the act.

[General Zod]

Also, I love all the people here who declare the victim to be looking fairly mature for her age, based upon one somewhat blurry low res B&W photograph.

I'm kind of baffled on that one myself. Even with just that photo there's no fucking way you can mistake her as mature. The face just screams jailbait.

Look, people: Broomstick is merely asserting the very obvious fact that normal men, not necessarily pædophiles -by either psychiatric or legal definitions- can sometimes feel sexually attracted to non-fully developed teen girls. And most certainly never did she claim that the girl en questions could have ever been mistaken for an adult.

She did, in fact, proceed to explain that normal, moral men do not act on said attraction, whereas Mr. Polanski did, in a criminal, despicable and completely punishable way, regardless of how one chooses to call the act.

Uhm, no. She specifically said that she could have been mistaken for an older woman. Learn to read.

Put her in the right clothes and add make up she's going to look like a woman, and older than she does in this picture.

[Thanas]

And by his own admission, Polanski knew she was 13 at the time.

[Pablo Sanchez]

It just seems rather strange that they'd wait over 30 years to follow up on the warrant.

They didn't, it's just that the diplomatic procedures for requesting extradition made him very difficult to catch. France wouldn't extradite him, so he resided there. If he needed to travel to a country that might extradite him, he could avoid capture by keeping his travel plans secret and leaving before the US diplomatic corps in that country discovered his presence and requested that he be arrested by the local authorities and held for extradition. Some countries like the UK, which he avoided altogether, may have had standing orders for his arrest and extradition, but other governments less close to the USA wouldn't have a serious ongoing effort to look out for him. The state department simply wouldn't have time between finding out he was in Switzerland (for example) and his return to France to go through the somewhat lengthy bureaucratic process of requesting his arrest and extradition. In any case, despite Polanski's high profile, the effort to catch him probably had a low priority both to the US diplomatic corps and to foreign governments.

What probably occurred to get him caught this time is changes in Swiss-US relations, with the US influence on the Swiss government greatly increased since the UBS affair, as well as the nature of his trip to Switzerland, which was apparently to accept a lifetime achievement award. This is the kind of event that would allow American authorities to guess his travel plans in advance, so that the extradition request was already sent, received, and green-lighted by the Swiss before Polanski even got there.

In sum, the authorities have been waiting for an opportunity to nab Polanski for 30 years, but he exploited the peculiarities of the international extradition process to avoid capture, until finally conditions came together. Your question is a bit like asking why the authorities waited 15 years before they went after Pablo Escobar.

[General Zod]

In sum, the authorities have been waiting for an opportunity to nab Polanski for 30 years, but he exploited the peculiarities of the international extradition process to avoid capture, until finally conditions came together. Your question is a bit like asking why the authorities waited 15 years before they went after Pablo Escobar.

The article in the OP talks about him traveling freely between countries gives a different impression, which is why it came off as weird.

[Pablo Sanchez]

The article in the OP talks about him traveling freely between countries gives a different impression,

The article in the OP sucks and it omits facts that seriously alter the tenor of the story. For example the story says

"Polanski fled America more than 30 years ago after pleading guilty to having sex with a 13-year-old girl."

From which you might assume (arguably, are intended to assume) that he plead guilty to consensual statutory rape, as opposed to the premeditated drugging, raping, and sodomizing of a minor who clearly refused consent. The Sky News article is actually pretty terrible and very much typical of apologies for Polanski. They talk about his body of work and achievements in film, minimize and obscure the circumstances of the rape, mention that the victim has moved on, and BTW did you know the Manson Family killed his wife? Additionally the main source is Robert Harris, the author whose book Polanski just filmed. The article in the OP is pretty much a turd.