Roman Polansky/Swiss extradition
Roman Polansky/Swiss extradition
Author
Discussion

normalbloke

Original Poster:

8,920 posts

249 months

Sunday 27th September 2009
quotequote all
So, he's been arrested in Switzerland,and is awaitng extradition to the good old U.S. of A.
How does that fit in with Swiss neutral status?

A genuine question,not pointed or sarcastic.

BringbacktheP&P

1,957 posts

234 months

Sunday 27th September 2009
quotequote all
I think the Swiss are neutral from a war perspective not from a legal one. If you've commited a crime in another country (which Polanski has) then they will happily extradite you.

ShadownINja

80,099 posts

312 months

Arthur Jackson

2,111 posts

260 months

Sunday 27th September 2009
quotequote all
Cool.
Paedo arrested.
Good job.

elster

17,517 posts

240 months

Sunday 27th September 2009
quotequote all
[quote=BringbacktheP&P]I think the Swiss are neutral from a war perspective not from a legal one. If you've commited a crime in another country (which Polanski has) then they will happily extradite you.
[/quote]

Apart from all the former African countries Finance Ministers

FourWheelDrift

92,332 posts

314 months

Sunday 27th September 2009
quotequote all
Maybe he was there to ask the Swiss to give back all the stolen Nazi gold from murdered Jewish holocaust victims and they said "no, oh and ask again and we'll get the nice Americans to come have a word instead."

Maybe.

superlightr

12,920 posts

293 months

Monday 28th September 2009
quotequote all
FourWheelDrift said:
Maybe he was there to ask the Swiss to give back all the stolen Nazi gold from murdered Jewish holocaust victims and they said "no, oh and ask again and we'll get the nice Americans to come have a word instead."

Maybe.
Germans not Nazi gold

FourWheelDrift

92,332 posts

314 months

Monday 28th September 2009
quotequote all
I meant the Nazis stole it. Not it belonged to them.

Parrot of Doom

23,075 posts

264 months

Monday 28th September 2009
quotequote all
[quote=BringbacktheP&P]I think the Swiss are neutral from a war perspective not from a legal one. If you've commited a crime in another country (which Polanski has) then they will happily extradite you.
[/quote]

...but if you've stolen billions of dollars from the Jews around the time of WW2, you're safe.

obob

4,193 posts

224 months

Monday 28th September 2009
quotequote all
Who cares, he's a pedo FFS.

obob

4,193 posts

224 months

Monday 28th September 2009
quotequote all
anonymous said:
[redacted]
Not sure what the age of consent was but it was not 13 as he would not have been arrested and charged if it was legal. The girl claimed she was drugged and raped.

He admitted to non-consensual sex with a minor but then fled bail.

Therefore he should be returned to the US and tried.

10 Pence Short

32,880 posts

247 months

Monday 28th September 2009
quotequote all
anonymous said:
[redacted]
I think it depended on how much coke you'd had at the time.

off_again

13,917 posts

264 months

Monday 28th September 2009
quotequote all
obob said:
anonymous said:
[redacted]
Not sure what the age of consent was but it was not 13 as he would not have been arrested and charged if it was legal. The girl claimed she was drugged and raped.

He admitted to non-consensual sex with a minor but then fled bail.

Therefore he should be returned to the US and tried.
Yeah, the details are a little odd....

http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/m...

In the US, underage sex with anyone less than 14 is regarded as rape and since she was drugged, boozed up and also sodomised, its pretty clear that something is really wrong here. Ok, it was 31 years ago, but I didn't know the details behind this until I looked it up. It does seem odd that both France and now Poland are recommending that the US drop this and move on... The girl herself has also said that she wants to move on too - and has asked for clemency too, but its a pretty bloody serious crime and which is morally right? Get the guy or leave it? Not sure. Gut feeling says let him rot in jail...

Quite why people have skimmed over this in the past I am not sure - illegal drugs, underage sex and technical rape - would normally sink someone's career but Polanski doesn't seem to have suffered too badly. All very odd and not sure why the movie industry has let this go.

james_tigerwoods

16,347 posts

227 months

Monday 28th September 2009
quotequote all
I don't quite understand the outcry - He committed the crime, admitted it then fled to avoid the sentence.

I was listening to Radio 4 this morning and although they said that he'd had a hard life, this did not excuse his escaping the law in this way - if he's guilty and admitted it, then he has to complete his sentence - non?

In any case - I can almost see what'll happen - he'll go back to the US (under protest) and his lawyers will aim to have the case dismissed under some technicality and he'll not serve his sentence - either way, he'll be out on bail in under 30 seconds.

ETA:

off_again said:
Not sure why the movie industry has let this go.
Apparently, according to R4, this was a "relatively common" occurrence (worryingly) and usually this sort of thing was hushed up - just not in this case for some apparent reason.

Edited by james_tigerwoods on Monday 28th September 11:58

Kermit power

29,622 posts

243 months

Monday 28th September 2009
quotequote all
There seems to be a huge amount of startling hypocrisy around this case.

I'd love to know how many of the celebs expressing their outrage at the way in which Polanski is being treated have 13yr old daughters? Of those who do, if someone raped their little cherub, how many of them would still be standing there saying that Polanski is being treated outrageously?

Lots of people lost parents in Auschwitz. Quite a few people's spouses have been murdered. Neither of these are sufficient excuse to rape a child, even when both happen to the same person, and the fact that the person in question happens to be a celebrated film director isn't enough to justify it either.

He should go back and face justice.

Horse_Apple

3,795 posts

272 months

Monday 28th September 2009
quotequote all
off_again said:
obob said:
anonymous said:
[redacted]
Not sure what the age of consent was but it was not 13 as he would not have been arrested and charged if it was legal. The girl claimed she was drugged and raped.

He admitted to non-consensual sex with a minor but then fled bail.

Therefore he should be returned to the US and tried.
Yeah, the details are a little odd....

http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/m...

In the US, underage sex with anyone less than 14 is regarded as rape and since she was drugged, boozed up and also sodomised, its pretty clear that something is really wrong here. Ok, it was 31 years ago, but I didn't know the details behind this until I looked it up. It does seem odd that both France and now Poland are recommending that the US drop this and move on... The girl herself has also said that she wants to move on too - and has asked for clemency too, but its a pretty bloody serious crime and which is morally right? Get the guy or leave it? Not sure. Gut feeling says let him rot in jail...

Quite why people have skimmed over this in the past I am not sure - illegal drugs, underage sex and technical rape - would normally sink someone's career but Polanski doesn't seem to have suffered too badly. All very odd and not sure why the movie industry has let this go.
Because it took place on US royal property. If RP is guilty then so would the host be.

obob

4,193 posts

224 months

Monday 28th September 2009
quotequote all
Horse_Apple said:
off_again said:
obob said:
anonymous said:
[redacted]
Not sure what the age of consent was but it was not 13 as he would not have been arrested and charged if it was legal. The girl claimed she was drugged and raped.

He admitted to non-consensual sex with a minor but then fled bail.

Therefore he should be returned to the US and tried.
Yeah, the details are a little odd....

http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/m...

In the US, underage sex with anyone less than 14 is regarded as rape and since she was drugged, boozed up and also sodomised, its pretty clear that something is really wrong here. Ok, it was 31 years ago, but I didn't know the details behind this until I looked it up. It does seem odd that both France and now Poland are recommending that the US drop this and move on... The girl herself has also said that she wants to move on too - and has asked for clemency too, but its a pretty bloody serious crime and which is morally right? Get the guy or leave it? Not sure. Gut feeling says let him rot in jail...

Quite why people have skimmed over this in the past I am not sure - illegal drugs, underage sex and technical rape - would normally sink someone's career but Polanski doesn't seem to have suffered too badly. All very odd and not sure why the movie industry has let this go.
Because it took place on US royal property. If RP is guilty then so would the host be.
Why would he be guilty? He let his house be used for a photoshoot while he was away.

Horse_Apple

3,795 posts

272 months

Monday 28th September 2009
quotequote all
obob said:
Horse_Apple said:
off_again said:
obob said:
anonymous said:
[redacted]
Not sure what the age of consent was but it was not 13 as he would not have been arrested and charged if it was legal. The girl claimed she was drugged and raped.

He admitted to non-consensual sex with a minor but then fled bail.

Therefore he should be returned to the US and tried.
Yeah, the details are a little odd....

http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/m...

In the US, underage sex with anyone less than 14 is regarded as rape and since she was drugged, boozed up and also sodomised, its pretty clear that something is really wrong here. Ok, it was 31 years ago, but I didn't know the details behind this until I looked it up. It does seem odd that both France and now Poland are recommending that the US drop this and move on... The girl herself has also said that she wants to move on too - and has asked for clemency too, but its a pretty bloody serious crime and which is morally right? Get the guy or leave it? Not sure. Gut feeling says let him rot in jail...

Quite why people have skimmed over this in the past I am not sure - illegal drugs, underage sex and technical rape - would normally sink someone's career but Polanski doesn't seem to have suffered too badly. All very odd and not sure why the movie industry has let this go.
Because it took place on US royal property. If RP is guilty then so would the host be.
Why would he be guilty? He let his house be used for a photoshoot while he was away.
Fair enough then, but I was under the impression it happened at one of his parties.

HiRich

3,337 posts

292 months

Monday 28th September 2009
quotequote all
anonymous said:
[redacted]
It's all a bit odd, and there's a good documentary about it.

She was 13 (in a country where the legal age is 18) so there's no excuse - photos of her (she came out some years ago) leave no margin of doubt. Even if she was sexaully active (as claimed), no excuse.

However the original trial was an astonishing perversion of justice: The judge was well dodgy, breaking agreements, showboating in court, talking about the case in public, and even consulting a journalist about his judgement.
  • A plea bargain for the lowest crime was agreed
  • During this some very dodgy things were happening between the judge and the press.
  • Polansky spent about a month in a secure unit for assessment. The assessment was completed in an unprecedently short time (although that was the decision of the assessors, nothing to do with his attorney)
  • Permission was given by the judge for him to direct a film in Europe
  • On that trip he was caught by papparazzi enjoying himself at the Munich Beer Festival
  • All hell broke loose back in California. He was called back for a review. It was felt the judge was embarrassed, and might do something inappropriate.
  • A further deal was agreed between the attorneys. When his defence explained this to Polansky, he asked whether the judge could be trusted. Attorney said no. Polansky did a runner.
The judge was heavily criticised and later "retired".

Some years later an attempt was made to clear the books. An agreement was reached and Polansky was set to return for the hearing. However when the new attorney refused his request for no cameras in court (a reasonable request given what had happened first time around), Polansky refused.

As well as it being arguable that he has actually served his time, it should also be noted that both the victim and the original prosecution attorney have stated that the matter should be dropped. It appears the current senior prosecutor (and remember this is the American system where he is likely to run for public office) is trying to make a name for himself. From what I saw, it looks like it may backfire and end his ambitions.

B Oeuf

39,731 posts

314 months

Monday 28th September 2009
quotequote all
Don't forget Natasha Kinsky, he had her when she was 15 too