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| Registered: December 16, 2007 |  Posts: 926 |
| | Posted: | | | | BERN, Switzerland -- The Swiss government declared renowned film director Roman Polanski a free man on Monday after rejecting a U.S. request to extradite him on a charge of having sex in 1977 with a 13-year-old girl.
The Swiss mostly blamed U.S. 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 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 "The freedom-restricting measures against him have been revoked."
It was unclear if Polanski had already left his Swiss chalet in the resort of Gstaad, where he has been held under house arrest since December.
The Washington Post, July 12. | | | | Last edited: by railroaded |
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| Registered: August 23, 2008 | Reputation:  |  Posts: 1,656 |
| | Posted: | | | | Glad to see the Swiss government supports child rapists. | | | Reviewer, HorrorTalk.com
"I also refuse to document CLT results and I pay my bills to avoid going to court." - Sam, keeping it real, yo. | | | | Last edited: by Alien Redrum |
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| Registered: March 13, 2007 |  Posts: 1,380 |
| | Posted: | | | | Quoting Alien Redrum: Quote:
Glad to see the Swiss government supports child rapists. Statuary rape, AFAIK he was never convicted from anything else. Still he did a crime, he should face the punishment. I dont understand the people that support him. The law should be the same for everyone, no matter how good movies he makes. |
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| Registered: August 23, 2008 | | Reputation: | | Posts: 1,656 |
| | Posted: | | | | Quoting whispering: Quote:
I dont understand the people that support him. The law should be the same for everyone, no matter how good movies he makes. This kills me, too. I'm fairly certain if it were Uwe Boll, he would not have so many people clamoring to defend him. It is nice to see, however, that he's getting less and less support as time goes on. | | | Reviewer, HorrorTalk.com
"I also refuse to document CLT results and I pay my bills to avoid going to court." - Sam, keeping it real, yo. |
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| Registered: March 13, 2007 | | Posts: 736 |
| | Posted: | | | | Quoting whispering: Quote:
Quoting Alien Redrum:
Quote:
Glad to see the Swiss government supports child rapists.
Statuary rape, AFAIK he was never convicted from anything else. Still he did a crime, he should face the punishment. I dont understand the people that support him. The law should be the same for everyone, no matter how good movies he makes. Statutory rape is what he plead down to. The girl's account to police states that she was drugged and resisted. He took an easy plea and still refused to do the time. | | | | Last edited: by synnerman |
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| Registered: March 13, 2007 | Reputation:  | | Posts: 13,202 |
| | Posted: | | | | Quoting synner_man: Quote:
Statutory rape is what he plead down to. The girl's account to police states that she was drugged and resisted. He took an easy plea and still refused to do the time. The sad part is, if he were 'Roman Polanski the bus driver', he probably wouldn't have been given that plea bargain or released on bail. | | | No dictator, no invader can hold an imprisoned population by force of arms forever.
There is no greater power in the universe than the need for freedom.
Against this power, governments and tyrants and armies cannot stand.
The Centauri learned this lesson once.
We will teach it to them again.
Though it take a thousand years, we will be free.
- Citizen G'Kar |
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| Registered: March 13, 2007 | | Posts: 1,380 |
| | Posted: | | | | Quoting synner_man: Quote:
Statutory rape is what he plead down to. The girl's account to police states that she was drugged and resisted. He took an easy plea and still refused to do the time. I'm not too familiar with American criminal justice system, but here if you do a crime the state prosecutes you. If that isnt the case theres either too little evidence or the person didnt do it. |
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| Registered: August 23, 2008 | | Reputation: | | Posts: 1,656 |
| | Posted: | | | | Quoting whispering: Quote:
Quoting synner_man:
Quote:
Statutory rape is what he plead down to. The girl's account to police states that she was drugged and resisted. He took an easy plea and still refused to do the time.
I'm not too familiar with American criminal justice system, but here if you do a crime the state prosecutes you. If that isnt the case theres either too little evidence or the person didnt do it. At least with the American judicial system if you have money and/or power, the rules do not apply to you.  | | | Reviewer, HorrorTalk.com
"I also refuse to document CLT results and I pay my bills to avoid going to court." - Sam, keeping it real, yo. |
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| Registered: March 13, 2007 | | Posts: 736 |
| | Posted: | | | | Quoting whispering: Quote:
Quoting synner_man:
Quote:
Statutory rape is what he plead down to. The girl's account to police states that she was drugged and resisted. He took an easy plea and still refused to do the time.
I'm not too familiar with American criminal justice system, but here if you do a crime the state prosecutes you. If that isnt the case theres either too little evidence or the person didnt do it. How it worked here was that he agreed to plea to a lesser charge and forgo the whole trial (which would cost time and money, and risk the chance that he doesn't get convicted). When he realized that the sentencing was going to be worse than he expected, he fled the country. He was convicted, so the charges still stand. |
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| Registered: May 19, 2007 | Reputation:  |  Posts: 6,730 |
| | Posted: | | | | Quoting Alien Redrum: Quote:
At least with the American judicial system if you have money and/or power, the rules do not apply to you. I'm quite sure that this is correct for any judicial system. As soon as the public takes notice judges tend to be a lot softer if the convict is well known, and a lot harder if the convict is Joe Average. | | | It all seems so stupid, it makes me want to give up!
But why should I give up, when it all seems so stupid?
Registrant since 05/22/2003 |
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| Registered: March 14, 2007 | | Posts: 762 |
| | Posted: | | | | Well according the German newspapers the US didn't want to hand over information to the Swiss that they requested to make a decision, without that information they let him go, I understand the reasoning here. Polanski should have faced justice back in the day when this happened but the judge back then made a deal and then decided that the deal Polanski agreed on wasn't enough and threatened Polanski with a harsher/longer sentence than what he agreed on. Polanski is a child rapist in my eyes but the biggest mistake here is the judge who made a deal, the wrong deal, he should have been charged with rape and prosecuted for it but the judge made the deal and then changed his mind. |
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 | Blair | | Resistance is Futile! |
| Registered: October 30, 2008 | | Posts: 1,249 |
| | Posted: | | | | What a system!  I don't wish any harm to the people of that country by him, but if he does any harm, naturally the first thought will be second-guessing their choices. People flee to The United States from other countries to avoid persecution. People flee from The United States to other countries to avoid prosecution. | | | If at first you don't succeed, skydiving isn't for you.
He who MUST get the last word in on a pointless, endless argument doesn't win. It makes him the bigger jerk. |
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| Registered: April 4, 2007 | | Posts: 887 |
| | Posted: | | | | Has anyone complaining in here actually bothered to read the girls testimony? I have and even what she said back then is a borderline case only, not even mentioning she herself later said he didn't do anything wrong (that of course depends on whether u think mutual sexual intercourse between a teen and an adult is or is not wrong, the laws are quite different about this from country to country).
I'm not saying he didn't do it. Just saying that you should probably thoroughly check the facts before complaining about legal systems and before you judge. Especially as in this case he wasn't set free because he was found innocent but rather because the US did not provide the necessary documents to prove otherwise. | | | | - Jan |
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| Registered: August 23, 2008 | | Reputation: | | Posts: 1,656 |
| | Posted: | | | | Quoting hydr0x: Quote:
Has anyone complaining in here actually bothered to read the girls testimony? I have and even what she said back then is a borderline case only, not even mentioning she herself later said he didn't do anything wrong (that of course depends on whether u think mutual sexual intercourse between a teen and an adult is or is not wrong, the laws are quite different about this from country to country).
I'm not saying he didn't do it. Just saying that you should probably thoroughly check the facts before complaining about legal systems and before you judge. Especially as in this case he wasn't set free because he was found innocent but rather because the US did not provide the necessary documents to prove otherwise. Did you read the same testimony where she asked him to take her home and blew her off, instead having sex with her while she said "No, stop"? Not being a smart ass, but that's what's in the transcripts (at least the ones The Smoking Gun has)? It's definitely not a borderline case. There was penetration. | | | Reviewer, HorrorTalk.com
"I also refuse to document CLT results and I pay my bills to avoid going to court." - Sam, keeping it real, yo. |
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| Registered: October 2, 2008 | | Posts: 210 |
| | Posted: | | | | thank you stupid Swiss. the Swiss and their idiotic banking laws and extradition laws allow criminals to get away with things. Polanski would be smart not to go to one of our major allies like Great Britain our biggest ally where we would surely get him. the Swiss always protect USA tax evaders. |
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| Registered: March 14, 2007 | | Posts: 762 |
| | Posted: | | | | Quoting yodagreensaber: Quote:
thank you stupid Swiss. the Swiss and their idiotic banking laws and extradition laws allow criminals to get away with things. Polanski would be smart not to go to one of our major allies like Great Britain our biggest ally where we would surely get him. the Swiss always protect USA tax evaders. Maybe the US should have sent over the requested paperwork?????? | | | | Last edited: by TheDarkKnight |
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