Just wondering how an event was perceived in your country, Roman Polanski’s arrest in Switzerland ?

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By Oliver AKA The Admin on 72 comments
in Categories: Just Talking
Tags: comedy, onsen

I’m just curious about an event that’s made a LOT of noise in my country, I wonder, has it been well publicized around your contry too, how are people reacting ? I’m curious…
This is The Roman Polanski (also known as “the intelligentsia’s favorite child rapist”) VS USA Justice case.

Something funny happend just a few days ago between the United States of America, my country, and Switzerland : the film maker Roman Polanski was arrested and, if all goes as the United States hope, he will be transferred back to American to receive a sentence he’s been evading for 30 years.

Short reminder of the facts : 30 years ago, popular cineast Roman Polanski, aged 45, shoots regular promo photos with a girl aged 13. In the evening, he feeds her with alcohol and barbiturates, and then he proceeds against her consent to raping her mouth, her vagina and her ass. The justice catches him, he’s sent into preventive (preemptive ? -the place you put probable guilty sickos before their penalty is pronounced) jail for a just a few months (less than one year), he pleads guilty because there was no denying the facts and he hoped to negociate a minimum penalty, he’s being played with and obviously regularly lied to by a stupid judge who sees it as an opportunity to shine in the media, he flees from the USA during a temporary freedom period while the final penalty decision is still hanging, and he never comes back to there. He never expressed any kind of regret. Twenty years later, the victime announced in the newspapers she had finally forgiven him. The state of California never gave up and kept the procedure alive, regularly requiring that the child rapid be brought back to USA for the penalty to be sentenced and applied, and finally the target has been apprehended in Switzerland just a few days ago.

And here, from my country, an overwhelming rally took place in the media, all the politicians, all the artists representatives, all the mediatic persons involved with arts, everyone protested in one voice that this was the USA abusing their authority, that the case was very old, etcetera.
While, on the other hand, in the “real” world, around me, on every blog I could find, and in the reader’s comments in the online newspapers, the “commoners” were rather thinking Roman Polanski reaped what he saw, the fucking child rapist.
The difference between commoners and the intelligentsia was – is – really shocking, at least in my country, and I guess each side has considered the other side as a bunch of hypocrites/morons.

If I may add a troll, 30 years later, the media industry is making its best to reduce civil liberties in order to be able to severely punish 13 years old teenagers who dare to download movies and music, the corporation definitely doesn’t like children, it seems.

I’m simply curious, was that case publicized in your country ? Or if you belong to the USA, to Switzerland or to France, how was it that you felt about that case ?
If you feel you’ve got something to say about it, you’re free to leave a comment :)

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jackspade
jackspade
14 years ago

Personally i havent heard shit about it from american media and everyone else i talk to had no idea it happened (or even who he was). i myself get all my news from the BBC so i knew when it all went down.

im both pissed that the chase went on for so long, and glad that he was finally caught. i DONT think its an abuse of US powers since he was caught by the swiss govt (according to what i read). he broke the law and according to agreements that have been made by BOTH governments, we have the right to ask for his arrest and return. if you have a problem with that than you should also have a problem with switz agreeing to that in the first place. wed have had him ages ago if it wasnt for france refusing to send us escapees.

shame on france for not sending us a child rapist.
shame on america for wasting all those resources.
shame on polanski for RAPING A CHILD.
and shame on all the people who are more concerned over the politics than the fact that an escaped child rapist was finally caught.

… IMHO

Ibn
Ibn
14 years ago

I’ve only heard it about in BBC radio, haven’t really seen much in the US news.

But about fucking time. The guy is a convicted child rapist. He’s been “on the run” for 30 years, he’s lucky to only be sent to jail.

konichan
konichan
14 years ago

hi everyone, im from mexico so please excuse my poor english. this event was perceived in a very ugly way for mr polanski, media says no mather who you are if you made a crime many many years ago you should be punish. i mean we are not to into this event but its a head line story so it has received some coverage.

Shuji
Shuji
14 years ago

Personally i havent heard shit about this either in the USA. i totaly agree with jackspade. cant belive it too 32 years for him to get caught. i mean com on guy used drugs and raped a 13 year old girl… shame on people trying to defend him with politics.

Chance
Chance
14 years ago

Canada here – we got a blurb about it in the entertainment section of our paper.

What’s kind of phenomenal to me is it took so bloody long. Are there really that many non-extradition treaty countries in Europe? Where was this guy living? Whatever – intercontinental criminal law isn’t precisely my forte – but what’s mildly amusing is just how he got caught:

Polanski was visiting… isn’t it Sweden? Anyway, he was going to some country because he was receiving an award of some sort – and when he landed he gets slapped with handcuffs. Classic artist – his ego betrays him – lawls.

*

Anyway, my personal take on it is, yes – he should go to jail for a good long time. He deserves jail – not just because there’s laws against what happened, but because I feel what he did was very wrong. This place – Hentairules – offers an interesting take on that position.

Now, we don’t read loli around here – but in Japan, loli gets made. (Does it still? I heard about some law – but maybe that just applies to games.) I don’t know if it’s considered a “normal” appetite – more likely it’s seen as a fetish – but they clearly don’t share our gut-reaction total abhorrence of it.

My point is: do we, in North America, feel that Roman Polanski fucking a thirteen year old girl is wrong and terrible and he should burn in hellfire because it’s ACTUALLY wrong and terrible, or because we happened to be raised in North American where we’re taught that it is wrong and terrible for an adult to have sex with a minor?

I choose to believe that it’s actually pretty wrong and pretty terrible – I like to think I believe this because my reason tells me it’s so: it seems very reasonable to me that any adult sexually interfering with so young a child would have a significant, lasting, negative impact on the child’s development and even world view.

But, I was born in a country where the concept of – even drawings – of an adult having sex with a minor is abhorrent. Perhaps I’d feel differently if I were the product of another environment?

I hope not.

TL:DR:

Canada – Yeah, fuck Polanski. The Ninth Gate was a good movie though.

hentairaider
hentairaider
14 years ago

I do not watch much TV news, and there is little about it on my home web page. After a search, I found a few clips concerning this.

The media discusses that it occurred in 1977, that he pleaded guilty, and decided to flee prior to the sentencing, fearing the judge would not hold up to his pleas agreement. There is talk of judicial misconduct (the DA for the case says he understands why Polanski would flee), about how the victim does not want him to do any jail time (she has forgiven him), and how efforts have been made to try and capture him in the past with no success.

Nevertheless, he fled. He committed a crime and did not face up to his punishment. He should be brought back to face punishment for his crime, and the fact that he fled. He would have been better off had he just stayed and faced up to what he had done.

Cobvious
Cobvious
14 years ago

I seem to be one of the few people in the US who actually already heard about this in the US media. I read about this in that old decaying thing known only as a newspaper.
It should be noted that one of the papers regular columnists decided that this deserved a full article based on the idea that both France and Poland (Polanski apparently has dual citizenship in both countries) were quite upset about this. His feeling (and mine) were basically, that this is a guy who drugged and raped a 13 year old girl, then ran from the consequences. He deserves whatever he gets.

entropy13
entropy13
14 years ago

The crucial point that the Swiss highlights is that their sovereignty and authority is being threatened recently by the US. For the Swiss, tax evasion is not a crime. For the US, it is. So with the Swiss saying it is not a crime equate to threatening the sovereignty of the US over its own citizens? Double standards much? And it’s not like it’s only the US that’s having trouble over them. Like my country, the Philippines, where the former dictator Marcos is from, he brought almost all of his ill-gotten wealth to Swiss banks. During his reign specifically under Martial Law many atrocities and human rights violations were made, most people speaking against him simply disappeared, many people were killed, and tortured “for the security of the republic”, then he also favored his cronies with lots of tax exemptions, added government taxes to his personal accounts in the Swiss banks. His tenure ended in 1986 but it was only in the 2000s that the Swiss banks agreed to open up Marcos’ accounts. Isn’t that the Swiss threatening our sovereignty, and not really caring about the welfare of other countries? What if the other countries treated Switzerland the same, would they still that neutrality is the best thing in the world?

jackspade
jackspade
14 years ago

tax evasion may not be illegal but im pretty sure child rape is. if it was that hard for them they wouldnt have signed an extradition treaty. its not abuse of power when someone says ahead of time “if this ever happens, well scratch your back if you scratch ours”

anyone in our country running from them would have had the same deal, thats what its all about. thats what it should be. you cant murder someone in TX and live free in KS, and with the world shrinking the way it does every day the same should apply on a larger scale. if he wanted to rape a little girl and get away with it he should have done it in cambodia, because if someone raped my neighbors daughter you better believe id let him kick the guys ass even if it meant doing it on my property. he wasnt even a citizen of the country he got caught in, just trash hiding out there

Il Palazzo-sama
Il Palazzo-sama
14 years ago

@Olivier : Comme toi avec ton troll : bordel les mecs, arrêtez de vouloir créer puis appliquer des lois débiles les plus répressives possibles quand vous êtes du bon côté, pour ensuite vous mettre à râler quand des lois normales sont appliquées à votre cas… (n’empêche, l’anti-américanisme primaire leur est bien )
Si tu n’as pas lu, je te conseille l’article de Maitre Eolas sur l’affaire. ([fr] http://www.maitre-eolas.fr/post/2009/09/29/Quelques-mots-sur-l-affaire-Polanski )

(to English speakers : Globally, I’m insulting [in French] french “artists” — most of them doesn’t deserve this word — and politician for trying to made USA the “bad guy” of the story, instead of Polanski.)

@jackspade & Chance : no country (but UK with Gary McKinnon) send their own citizen to other countries to be punished. (the case is a little bit different inside the European Union) It’s normal that France didn’t send him to USA. (as it would be normal if USA didn’t send an american citizen to France in the opposite case)

@Ibn : Plea bargain. I don’t fully understand how it works, but I read his sentence was only 4 years of imprisonment. Plus what he deserves for fleeing ? (death penalty ain’t possible : [personal mind : fortunately] it doesn’t exist in Europe, and no Country where death penalty doesn’t exist would send anyone to Country where it exist if they weren’t 100 % sure it won’t be applied. Don’t forget : like Shirō says, people die if you kill them…)

@ Chance : the girl didn’t want to have sex with him. No matter if you are japanese or westerner, you won’t approve that. Doing this on minor people is “only” an aggravating circumstance. (Yeah, I traduce a french legal term literally. I know there’s no chance it’s the same expression in english-speaking contries)

PS : Yes, I know, no matter how japanese people sucks at english, most of french people sucks more. I’m really sorry for that…

Il Palazzo-sama
Il Palazzo-sama
14 years ago

*(n’empêche, l’anti-américanisme primaire leur est bien utile, aux politiciens, comme argument d’autorité pour appuyer leurs conneries)

Hellbert
Hellbert
14 years ago

And finally Poland here. You miss one point in general. In polish law and in poles mentality rape is not a crime. Women, if raped, must inform the police/law enforcment about the case. Otherwise they do nothing, even if people know (there were cases 20yo girl was raped by 5 males, thrown from 3rd floor, picked up, dragged back to appartment and raped once again.). “Inteligentsia” is outraged – how dare they, they say.

I do not consider myself a pole. I wont write all the shit they throw on that girlthen/womennow.
Main thing – even if 13yo drags you to bed, as adult, you can kick her out. What is the explenation that she wanted? Shit, im just mad as hell, poles should be … aushwitzed.

Hellbert
Hellbert
14 years ago

Too emotional i got there. Sorry, i hate rapists. polish mentality says – she wanted it. If bitch wont give, dog wont take. Poles are just animals. If you ever come to this shithole here remember! If your relative gets raped she MUST inform police about the case and force them to start investigation! Nothing will be done otherwise! And no, its not a joke. Do you even find it funny?
Polansky should face the trial!

MonkeyNation
MonkeyNation
14 years ago

Well, I live in Southern California, where all this went down, so to speak. I guess i watch/read more news than the average American, because i have learned of this relitivly early.
Yes, the man does deserve to be incarcerated. Remember one fact though, this man’s wife, along with other friends and family, were brutally murdered by none other than Charles Manson. Polanski may have been in a bad mental state when this happened.
If you don’t know who Charles Manson
is. Manson is a convicted cerial murderer now on death row in California. He has been convicted of at least 5 murders, and says he has killed many more. To this day police still search his ranch in Death Valley with Cadaver dogs and ground penetrating Radar.
One night Manson went with a group of killers to Polanski’s house in Bel Air, and killed his wife Sharron Tate, along with 4 others there at the time.

Hellbert
Hellbert
14 years ago

One more thing about polish mentality. Few days ago women sentenced for sloughtering Sharon Tate died in prison. There were opinions on polish net that Sharon got what she deserwed for marying rapist (i think the sexula intercourse took place after murder, but I dont know). SIC! So you know whats inside polish head. And Polansky is pole, unfortunately.

Hellbert
Hellbert
14 years ago

again sorry for crappy english, too emotional here.

flyingchicken
flyingchicken
14 years ago

Si Polanski n’était pas une personnalité on n’en parlerais même pas, il y en a des centaines des criminels qui fuient les procès d’une façon d’une autre, certains ont commis des crimes graves d’autre pas.
On parle de pétition gnagnagna parce que le monsieur est connu et a des relations avec des gens importants. Si ça nous arrivait à nous Mr Toutlemonde on va tout simplement nous foutre dans l’avion, on retourne là bas, procès in the face et fin de l’histoire, pas d’encre, pas d’images pas de débat.
Les médias prennent clairement une position anti-US et nous présente Polanski comme une victime du système judiciaire américain.
La vérité c’est que ce monsieur a violé (ou pas) une fillette de 13 ans, ça s’appelle de la pédophilie il n’y a pas d’autres termes, et jusqu’à preuve du contraire la pédophilie est puni pas la loi, française, suisse ou américaine.

ice
ice
14 years ago

sad to say, but I’m Itlian and our prime minister has a issue for sex relationships with pre-aduld girls…so better if I shut up….
:*(

Goo.Ark
Goo.Ark
14 years ago

I’m sorry… what? Who?

trisdor
trisdor
14 years ago

I live in the US. Havnt heard any news as of yet but he shouldve been handed over along time ago. Lied to or used as a puppet by a judge doesnt matter…hes a child rapist and should pay for his crime. even though the female forgives him now she suffered and garunteed she had to go to therapy to get over what was done to her.

don
don
14 years ago

In Germany it was covered in the media (but not alot).
They were too busy with the election I suppose.

From what I read the response to the news was rather neutral.

Most reporters said that he did in fact deserve punishment.
However the way how Swizerland and the US were handeling the situation was legally questionable.
Since to my knowledge in most contries he couldn’t be prosecuted for a crime that was done so long in the past. (Murder being the exception.)

Basically:
In German law there is a limitation of time on the prosecution of child rape.
(I think in this case about 15 years or so … not 100% sure.)

Nikolaus
Nikolaus
14 years ago

In my country it was mentioned only on tzhe day of the arest and nothing more, they didn’t even tell why they did it.

But as I’m a fan of absolute justice for all (IUR student :P ) it’s only right that they did it. Still better to do it in the US tan in some countries in asia where it’s punishable by death.

don
don
14 years ago

Oh and on a sidenote to international arrest warrents.

There was recently a case in which a US citizen who murdered a woman in Germany and fled to the USA afterwards was turned in to the German authorities.

However it took them 25 years to get him extradited.

So it turns out that the case of Polanski might not be unusual after all.

Anon
Anon
14 years ago

Sex with a minor?Bad.Still,girls not much older than her get married back where I came from.

NON-consensual sex with a minor?Very bad.Particularly when they’ve been plied with drugs and alcohol(seriously,WTF?)

Still,tainted legal proceedings are a BIG no-no for me,particularly when it’s so easy to railroad people.And according to both the defense and the prosecution at the time,the judge majorly fucked up the case,such that you cannot fairly decide the merits.And cases involving rape or adults having sex with minor girls are usually weighted against the defendant in the West.And given the slant of the media coverage,it’s doubtful if he can receive a fair trial in the US.

Still,it’s a good thing he can afford enough lawyers and friends to make a case for him.If you wanna see just how bad things can go for a defendant,try googling the Hofstra rape arrests where 5 guys got arrested for allegedly raping an 18yr old in a bathroom.The only way the guys were able to prove it was consensual was that one of them taped the event on his cell.

telfisaki
telfisaki
14 years ago

Beware guys, this wasn’t rape. The victim says all about it and doesn’t want Roman to be pursued as a rapist. She even withdrawed her complaint.
But there still was sexual abuse on a minor, that’s the real point.
Like others already said, I don’t think he’s gonna have a fair trial in US.

But the more curious to me is that the warrant was emited in the late 70’s, Roman Polanski has a house in Gstaad where he spend some time for many years, but Switzerland just reacts now… why??

There’s so many false statements about this man or this case. It’s usually what happens when you leave a man to the popular judgement…

To close my opinion, I think that some people are making big noise with it just because they want their name in the evening news… but this is a ongoing justice case -> so that is not of our business.

grobroy
grobroy
14 years ago

Don and Entropy 13 are true. For France (french authorities), he is a criminal no more : after a delay of many years, the rape (like any other crime) is forgotten. And another important point about Switzerland : Roman Polanski came to that country many and many times (he also owns a house there !). Switzerland surprisingly decided to arrest him now because of american pressures on tax evasion. Switzerland is a bit hypocrit.

The best should have been that Roman didn’t flew away or surrendered by himself to be judged.

Bolly
Bolly
14 years ago

Yup, I’m from portugal and this caused a huge ruckus and divergence of opinions. Mine is: Let the bastard burn, his movies are not that great.

ps: great hint on the piracy freedom fighting Oli hahah We’re with you!

Necrolai
Necrolai
14 years ago

Yo guys Germany here

I`m not a fan of loli, however I`m ok with it, but if someone gets a 13-year old girl drunk and rapes her after that in real life then I`m not surprised that he`s gonna go to jail. It`s also completely unimportant what the artists think about that.

frankoh
frankoh
14 years ago

The news had no much commotion in Peru (almost unnoticed).
What hypocrisy, there are politicians and artist asking pardon for a rapist of a real girl. While some censorist feminist groups (even in UN) demand the ban of hentai ir order to protect fictional girls…
Only because Polanski is famous, is he worthy to be forgiven?. If i become a famous filmmaker, can i rape girls without punishment too?

TIBO
TIBO
14 years ago

It’s OK to fuck small children in Russian.
Even if you get caught, you always have a possibility to buy a judge. But in reality it
is rather difficult to find a girl, that is younger than 18 years.
Not so long ago, there was a case, were a young guy (25 years old)
was seduced by a young girl (15 years old). But he made a big mistake.
After that he went to the police and said, that he had a sex with a fifteen-year-old
girl. Of course a judge haven’t any other choice, but to send him to the prison.
In russian prison you will have a difficult life, if you are pedophile.
Because other criminals usually have a family, and they will try to tear your ass.
Only this year there were some changes in the law, that concern a pedophile.
Now he can be discharge after he spend three fourth of his prison sentence.
Prison sentence also changed from fifteen years to twenty years.
But still there is a lot of cases, were school teachers and influential people
don’t get what they deserve for fucking young guys. Yes, yes in Russia
pedophile like young boys(15-16 years old). It is because in Russia army
you get a habit to work with man’s ass. So it is possible to list a possibilities
for those, who like small children
1)If you live in USA you can buy children. There is a lot of services,
where you can adopt russian children, who lost parents.
2)In Russia there are many homeless children. And some fuck them
and take nude pictures for food as payment.
But still you should to be careful, because you can get problems with law.
It is better to fuck girl, who are elder 18 years. And in Russia every girl
is wishing to be fucked by a rich American guy. They usually say, that
all russian guys are lazy, and they drink alcohol too much.
Even more her parent will be happy, that their beautiful daughter has
a possibility to be fucked by a foreigner. But there is a small trick.
After sex you need to take a responsibility and marry her.
I don’t know about capabilities of russian women to be a good wife,
but I know for sure, that she love money (especially dollars).
After that we can make a conclusion, in Russia people don’t care
about Roman Polanski, because they have a lot of russian shit to work with.
And so he can fuck young girls, if he find pleasure in that.
But still it would be insulting, if he said, that he especially like to fuck
russian children. After that everybody will try to make him pay
for his words.

p.s. Can you make some remarks about grammar?
It is probably rather funny to read it, because it is written by a foreigner.
And you can say what mistakes were made, so that next time
I will try to write something better.

feelman
feelman
14 years ago

Hellbert you stupid moron. You know nothing about polish law. Rape is a crime prosecution on the injured person’s motion because sex between two adult people its their affair. And if you are so law-abiding why you are here? 90% stuff on this site are illegal in Poland (look art.202 §2b kodeksu karnego)

marik
marik
14 years ago

Finally, he got what he deserved, and I say to all those who defend him are stupid, arrogant people.
I’m from Croatia, and most responss of the general public was satisfaction, peple here think it was well deserved. I hope he gets maximum penalty. Sick bastard, to abuse a child.
And all those covering for him, demanding his release and absolution , as one man on the net commented, maybe some famous dude should rape their kid and then they cold have a say in the matter.
A new law was made in my country, all sex offenders are now obligated to take chemicals to “kill” their sexual drive.Especially pedophiles.
I wonder if Polanski’s friends are pedophiles too.

Kane
Kane
14 years ago

I’m from the US and, unlike my fellow citizens on hentairules who seem to be members of the ignoratia, I keep up with the news and heard of this story once it broke. Frankly… no one cares about this fucker. The man raped a 13 year old girl and fled justice. Even if you’re unhappy with the justice who was overseeing the case… who cares what you think? The man is a total sicko and you can’t be lenient on the guy just because it happened decades ago or because he’s some artrapist. A commonwealth is ruled by laws and moral standards. If you excuse the flagrant destruction of those laws and moral standards in one case then you head down the path of a-morality — no moral standards, complete ambivalence, and thus nihilism.

Also in respect to France… who gives a shit what any other country thinks about this matter. He may be a French citizen, but he committed a horrific crime on US soil. You don’t get a say in the matter because he, of his own free will, annexed your authority over him when he raped a 13 year old girl in our country.

LD
LD
14 years ago

I’m from Russia. News about arrest appeared on the newspages, mostly on the specialazed ones, but nothing major. Press seems to favor Polanski.

Yonson
Yonson
14 years ago

Hey there Hentairules.

Firstly – Polanski is a dick and a talentless hack.
His films are shit. Particularly the Ninth Gate.

Secondly – I’m no fan of the USA, but in this case I think they’re totally justified.
Famous people think they can get away with all sorts of things – like thier fame elevates them above human morals. In a lot of cases they do, but in Polanski’s case I hope he does serious time.
In prison, he’ll get buttfucked without the barbituates to smooth things over….

Thirdly – The Lolicon issue…
Lolicon, hentai about rape and monster sex…. all the really deviant hentai and doujin… ARE COMICS.
No girls were hurt or frightened in thier production, and reading them is FINE.
Have I ever seen a 15 yr old girl looking cute and thought about fucking her? damn straight.
Would I actually do it? No fucking way ’cause she’s too young and I’m an old bastard…

The point is you can THINK about doing all kinds offucked up shit but ACTUALLY doing it is a crime for a reason.

Don’t ever feel guilty about reading lolicon, just REMEMBER it’s FANTASY.

Fourthly – Polanski needs to go down. For a long time.

Love to you all

Yons x

fefifofum
fefifofum
14 years ago

Your summary of “the facts” seem quite subjective at best. I’ve seen recent interviews of the victim in which she admits to strictly consentual sex. In fact, her lawyer provided proof of previous sexual relationships with adult men which they ignored since none of them were ever arrested, let alone prosecuted. This illustrates what a witchhunt this was from the start.

There is no denying that what Roman Polanski did was a crime, and he pleaded guilty to it. However, I honestly have more of a problem with a moralistic prosecutor trying to make a name for himself by attacking a celebrity and allowing a young girl to be strung out all over the tabloids for decades afterwards. The girl’s mother, an actress herself, knew all about Polanski’s harem-like lifestyle and chose to expose her to him. She failed her daughter more than the justice system.

For those that would say, its all on Polanski, I would argue that his traumatic childhood and the brutal murder of his wife make it impossible for me to pass judgement on him as his mental state cannot me unchanged through all of that.

At any rate, I’m glad the French are launching appeals at what is clearly an entrapment arrest by them (the Swiss government had invited Polanski to receive an award.)and I hope the extradiction gets thrown out.

Florent
Florent
14 years ago

My take on this:

1. What both Switzerland and France did was normal. Most democracies have extradition treaties together (the Switzerland-USA one dates back to 1990). Those treaties have conditions. One typical condition is that countries where death penalty is illegal only extrade suspects if the other country guarantee they won’t use death penalty in that case. Another rule is that countries don’t extrade their own citizens (never). France wouldn’t arrest and extrade Polansky because he has French (and Polish) citizenship. Switzerland did arrest him because he was on the international arrest list and his name went bip in borders control at the airport. So nothing wrong with the procedure.

2. The reaction from French officials and entertainers was bad. They generally don’t have any decent knowledge of the case, so saying it’s an old story (it is, but it’s technically not prescribed) and Polansky did nothing wrong is ridiculous and irresponsible. Moreover, many stated that he was such a great artist that he shouldn’t be treated like that… WHAT? It doesn’t matter if someone has fame, respect, political power or money, they should be treated the same as ordinary citizens. Nobody’s above the law. France has a few things to learn from the USA on that topic (though it’s not black and white).

3. Journalists commenting on the case when they don’t know the case, haven’t read the files and haven’t investigated the case… what a joke! Bloggers are not journalists but should have some reserve too. Anyone should. I tend to think we are very quick to judge even when we don’t have any elements, and when we have some information we pass judgment as well and forget that maybe what was reported wasn’t accurate.

Saying someone is a criminal shouldn’t be done light-heartedly or, worse, self-righteously. I have no idea what Polansky did exactly (and i don’t care that much). Hopefully there will be true justice, whatever it is in this case.

jackspade
jackspade
14 years ago

BREAKING NEWS! LOL

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/8283707.stm

looks like the french and the polish have realized that maybe defending a pedophile wasnt such a good thing….

my question… if an american rapes a 13 year old girl in another country, hes charged when he gets back to america. so WHY wasnt he charged in france?

jackspade
jackspade
14 years ago

@fefifofum:

First off, having a traumatic life is no excuse for raping a small child. sure, it makes me slightly more sympathetic toward him, but its not an excuse. also, the fact that she was raped before has no bearing on the case. being raped previously doesnt turn a little girl into a community cum-dumpster.

Entrapment is when the authoritys convince you to do something illegal THEN arrest you for it. winning an award is not illegal and not what he was arrested for, so even if he WAS lured by the govt, it WOULDNT be entrapment.

also, it was not the govt that told him to go, he really WAS winning an award, the us govt happened to know of it before hand and asked the local govt to arrest him.

Vox
Vox
14 years ago

If it was wrong 30 years ago and it’s wrong now, what’s the problem with him finally getting his just deserts? What is the alternative? Will Switzerland punish him instead?

Let’s not forget he escaped what his fate earlier, this punishment was already due.

Anon
Anon
14 years ago

I hope this man dies in jail and then I hope he burns in hell.

Gavel
Gavel
14 years ago

It is the opinion of the majority of Americans and the justice system that children have to be protected. Polanski admitted to committing the crime. Therefore he should serve his sentence. Whether the trial was fair is debatable and his reason for fleeing the country. Either way, he should either be extradited back to the US, and face sentencing based on his admission of guilt or compromise and let him be heard based on American law in a neutral country.

streetpilot
streetpilot
14 years ago

From what i have seen in the USA, this seems to be adding fuel to a fire that has been burning for some time now. That fire has been a consistently increasing dislike of the EU and France in particular. I agree that the average citizen in any country thinks Polanski is a monster. However,… protecting a confessed child rapist at this point would be an indefensible and unwise position for any politician or media organization to take.

nyar1
nyar1
14 years ago

Without reading any of the posts above, I think that it was about time justice was served and that perv came back to the US to get what he deserves.

But that is me. It seems that only Hollywood gives a crap. People are busy with war, health and economy.

nyar
nyar
14 years ago

… and the award goes to Roman Polanski!!!

Yo Roman. I’m very happy for you and Imma let you finish, but R Kelly is the greates perv of all time. All TIME!!!

BTW, you are under arrest.

Rainy Day
Rainy Day
14 years ago

God please give our child protection(=__=)…..
>>wow many word we have here DuDE!!!. i think that man just got to…. dont want to say that… n he sure know how to run from the cops eyes, ears, n nose!!! but sadly he just some man that just got new interest on fucking little innocent child…
SAD for u Mr.Polanski…. may god give u his bless or HeLL waiting ya with all poeple that should taste the hot chilly soup there…LolZ

trisdor
trisdor
14 years ago

whats being forgotten by some is that its not just a crime of sexual abuse against a minor…its also a crime of running. he is a fugitive…even if in france 15 years is the statue of limitation for prosecuting he has already been prosecuted and he ran.

Tazaf
Tazaf
14 years ago

Yop !

J’habite en Suisse (il manquait plus que ce pays, non ^^) Et ici, ils en parlent genre beaucoup. Normal me direz-vous. Tout le monde est plus ou moins d’accord sur le fait de dire que Polanski a effectivement fait quelque chose de mal. Là ou ça coince, c’est que certains pensent que depuis le temps il y a prescription alors que d’autres pensent évidemment l’inverse. Pour ma part, je suis assez mitigé. D’un côté profiter de la faiblsse d’une gamine de 13 ans c’est carrément naze. De l’autre… 30 ans quoi… en plus elle ne lui en veut même plus.

En revanche, tous se rejoignent plus ou moins sur un point : La façon d’agir de la Suisse envers cette affaire n’est pas des plus reluisantes. Attirer Polanski en lui faisant miroiter un prix quelconque pour l’arrêter (de façon musclée) dès son atterrissage à l’aéroport de Zurich. Il y a d’ailleurs eu un communiqué officiel de la conseillère fédérale Micheline Calmy-Rey dans lequel elle s’excuse de cette fourberie.

Pour ceux qui se demandent pourquoi les Suisses n’ont réagit que maintenant, je me permet de vous rappeler les très récents déboires qu’à eu la Suisse avec les USA suite à l’affaire du secret bancaire d’UBS. Devinez qui veut se faire bien voir des ricains ?^^

[For English readers, I’ll try too translate what I said, but I’m not as fluish in English as Olivier ^^]

Hi !

I’m living in Switzerland (the only country missing ^^). And here, media talking a lot about this case. Of course, there’re involved… More or less everyone is agree to say that Polanski did a very bad thing with the girl. However, some people though that blaming him for that 30 years after the fact is overreacted. There’s prescritption since that time. And of course, some other people though that it’s totally normal. Personnaly, I’m torn. In one side, I also think that abusing a little and week 13 years old girl sucks, star or not. But in the other side… 30 years, men… and she’s not even angry about him…

Anyway, almost everybody I know is agree here to say that Swizterland acted like a bitch in this case. Lying to Polanski about an hypothetical price just to charm him and then arresting him (violently) right when he put a foot on the ground of Zurich’s airport is a little wicked. By the way, federal councelor Micheline Calmy-Rey annouced a few days ago that the Swiss governement apologize itself to Polanski of it’s behavior.

For those of you who asked why Switzerland only react now. May I remember you the very recent disagrement that USA and switzerland had about the banking secrecy of UBS ? Guess who’s trying to please americain people ^^

Xenor
Xenor
14 years ago

He should go to jail. It isn’t just about the girl, even if she decided to drop charges. Criminal behavior that abhorrent needs to be punished. As one op-ed on CNN said, this just reminds us how out of touch Hollywood is with the real world. I feel even less bad for downloading their movies for free.

I hope Switzerland does the right thing and sends him to the U.S. Those punk asses in France (not the whole country..just those who failed to do the right thing) should have sent him back 29 years ago…

Colin
Colin
14 years ago

i think polanski’s arrest was a long time coming. even if the victim forgave him, he still fled the country and ignored his sentence for thirty years. if he just sucked it up and went to jail he would have been out at least 20 years ago, but now he’s probably going to die in prison.