Roman Polanski Is a Free Man; Swiss Government Won't Extradite Him

By PopEater Staff Posted Jul 12th 2010 09:30AM

Oscar-winning filmmaker Roman Polanski will not be sent to the United States to face child sexual assault charges, the Ministry of Justice announced Monday (via CNN). The Swiss government declared Polanski a free man on Monday after rejecting a US request to extradite him on a charge of having sex in 1977 with a 13-year-old girl.

The Swiss mostly blamed US authorities for failing to provide confidential testimony about Polanski's sentencing procedure in 1977-1978. The Justice Ministry also said that national interests were taken into consideration in the stunning decision.

"The 76-year-old French-Polish film director Roman Polanski will not be extradited to the USA," the ministry said in a statement. "The freedom-restricting measures against him have been revoked."

Polanski's lawyer Herve Temime said the director was still at his Swiss chalet in the resort of Gstaad, where he has been held under house arrest since December.

Switzerland's top justice official said he could now leave. "Mr. Polanski can now move freely. Since 12:30 today he's a free man," Justice Minister Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf declared.

Polanski was was initially accused of raping a girl after plying her with champagne and a Quaalude pill during a modeling shoot in 1977. He was indicted on six felony counts, including rape by use of drugs, child molestation and sodomy, but he pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of unlawful sexual intercourse. The filmmaker fled the US on Feb. 1, 1978, the day he was to be formally sentenced. He has lived since then in France, which does not extradite its citizens.

His victim, Samantha Geimer, now in her 40s and a married mother of three, had called for the case to be tossed out several times in the past. Geimer, who long ago identified herself, sued Polanski in December 1988 when she was 25 years old, alleging sexual assault, intentional infliction of emotional distress and seduction. Polanski and Geimer reached a $500,000 settlement in October 1993, according to documents recently released in Los Angeles. She has since forgiven him.

The case resurfaced when Polanski was apprehended Sept. 26, 2009, as he arrived in Zurich to receive an award from a film festival. Authorities in Los Angeles consider him a convicted felon and a fugitive.

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Comments

(41)

Monday 12 July

By Stephanie

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No justice here. I don't care how old he is or how much he's contributed professionally, he should still be held responsible for his actions.

By BTDT

All it takes is cash.

By pen319073

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Mel Gibson must be wondering why the press and Holywood didn't go to the mat for him as they did for Polanski.

Well, no, actually he isn't.

By Katie

Actually, it is an interesting question as to why Hollywood condemns Gibson for his drunken rants but praises Polanski in spite of his drugging and raping a young girl. My conclusion is that Hollywood doesn't care about right and wrong or about decency. It only cares about politically correct publicity. Today, in Hollywood, religious and racial hatred is terrible but rape is acceptable. Who knows, In 10 years, it may be reversed. Personally, I hope the hate expressed by Gibson remains unfashionable, but that the rape of minors joins it as being intolerable.

By michelle

He will rot in hell!!!!! So SICK of these hollywood stars being above the law!!!!!

By d. riker

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So, American prosecutors and the American public didn't get their piece of raw meat. Hahahaha! Shucks, now we won't get to watch the public humiliation of the guy we all love to hate, carried out by Fox News, the Tea Party lunatics, and Mr. and Mrs. John Q. America, Oh hahahahaha! It would have been humiliation-as-entertainment, the kind American just love.

By ray

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maybe someone should take the law into there owe hands and kill him and you to while they are at it. bang you dead. hahaha

By S

I wonder how funny you would find this if it were your 13 year old daughter, niece or sister that this pedophile drugged and forced himself on. This attitude is part of the reason pedophiles so rarely face the consequences of their actions.

Tuesday 13 July

By Jamie

Rape of a child is funny??? You are sick!!!

By tkorenny

That's nice that the victim could forgive him and move on with her life but it still doesn't make it right that he basically got away with it. He drugged and raped a child and ran to avoid paying for his crime. That's just disgusting.

By Nico Toscani

He drugged and raped her? Funny, I always heard her mother lied to him about her age and helped get her wasted so she wouldn't protest. I guess there's two sides to this OLD story. Can we go back to making fun of Lindsey Lohan now?

By Pete

Same old story, Money talks, and B.S. walks !

By Dave

If I were related to the 13 year old girl I would have gone to switzerland and shot the SOB, it goes to show you how much respect other countries have for the US, it'll get worse with Omistake in office

It already has gotten worse. What can possibly be a less political crime than rape of a child? The Swiss "considered" national interest in deciding not to extradite? If the Obama Administration cannot get a child rapist extradited from Switzerland, what chance does it have of convincing Iran to forgo nuclear weapons?

By mark

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Dave
So you condone MURDER! What a great fatherfigure you must be.
Shooting someone over this! You are one sick man and need to be investigated by child protective services!
I feel really afraid for your kids because you are giving them the image if they do not like someone or something KILL THEM is the way you settle it.
GET SOME HELP before you do kill someone over something that is not really your business!!!!!!!!!!

By Tony

wow Katie...you're an idiot.

Monday 19 July

By frank carter

your nothing but a Hick, you old goat!

By pinto

The SWISS have holes in their heads just like their cheeze,Polanky is just another Holly Weird creep who is old and wont be around much longer with a little luck!!

By American

Boycott their cheese, their knives and their watches. Bunch of pansies in leather shorts.

By dsherline

Roman Polanski you're a wuss. You pled guilty under a plea bargain agreement then fled the country before your sentencing. If you'd been a man and accepted your punishment then this would all be long behind you.

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