Citing flight risk, Swiss officials refuse to grant bail for Roman Polanski

Swiss justice officials have rejected a request by Roman Polanski to be released from a Zurich jail, where he has been detained for more than a week.

The move was expected and marks the beginning of what is expected to be a long effort by L.A. County prosecutors to have Polanski brought back to face sentencing for sexually assaulting a 13-year-old girl three decades ago.

Polanski's attorneys have vowed to fight extradition -- and the case is expected to go before a judge in the coming weeks. Polanski had asked government officials to release him from jail while he awaited the hearing.

But the justice ministry decided the famed director posed too great a flight risk.

"We continue to be of the opinion that there is a high risk of flight," said ministry spokesman Folco Galli told the Associated Press.

His supporters have questioned the timing of the arrest, noting Polanski has been to Switzerland many times and even has a chalet at a Swiss resort.

But Justice Minister Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf insisted authorities never knew Polanski traveled to Switzerland -- until L.A. prosecutors informed them Polanski planned to attend the festival.

"This time, we knew that he would be coming. After all, the organizers of the Zurich Film Festival had actively made it known," Widmer-Schlumpf told the Swiss newspaper SonntagsZeitung.

"Switzerland is a constitutional state, and Mr. Polanski should always have counted on being disturbed on his earlier stays as well," Widmer-Schlumpf said.  "The arrest of Mr. Polanski has been sought worldwide by Interpol since 2005. If he comes to Switzerland, we are duty bound to fulfill the arrest as a treaty partner of the United States."

There has been much debate in Switzerland and beyond about whether the Swiss should have arrested Polanski as he exited a plane for the Zurich Film Festival. A former justice minister in Switzerland has said the director should have been warned he would be arrested if he came to Zurich.

-- Shelby Grad

Related: Swiss refuse bail for Roman Polanski

Comments

[MaureenN]

"A former justice minister in Switzerland has said the director should have been warned he would be arrested if he came to Zurich"

Additionally, the 13yo child that he raped should have been warned that he was planning to drug & rape her that day...

[Olden Atwoody]

I'm shocked. There is no reason to hold a frail elderly artist like Mr. Polanski in jail pending a hearing. There's no evidence he would flee.

He has always attended court hearings, and for the last 25 years has been very eager to return to the USA to settle this matter, but he had to see a man about a dog.

[Fed Up]

Really, didn't he flee the US?

[Olden Atwoody]

I'm shocked. There is no reason to hold a frail elderly artist like Mr. Polanski in jail pending a hearing. There's no evidence he would flee.

He has always attended court hearings, and for the last 25 years has been very eager to return to the USA to settle this matter, but he had to see a man about a dog.

[alvin]

"A former justice minister in Switzerland has said the director should have been warned he would be arrested if he came to Zurich."

It would have also been nice if the victim of Polanski's crime could have been warned beforehand that she'd be drugged, raped and sodomized at her photo shoot.

[yehudi]

Yes this dude would probably take off again.

[bobby]

I keep cringing at the audacity of Polanski and his supporters, calling for his release. Polanski, plain and simple, drugged, raped and sodomized a child. Sorry, guys, he doesn't deserve a get-out-of-jail-free card because he's an amazing filmmaker.And neither do Catholic priests, or promiscuous teachers, or ....

[Marc Camargo]

Polanski is a predator and a rascal and must be punished!

[John Zavesky]

The facts are simple, Polanski pled guilty to having sex with a minor. This pedophile drugged a 13 year old and then sodomized her. After pleading guilty Polanski jumped bail and fled authorities. If Roamn Polanski's name was Father Polanski everyone would be clamoring for his immediate imprisonment. Since it isn't the Hollywood community has circled the wagons and envoked everything from the Holocaust to his art as some bastardized reason he should be allowed to remain free. If it was Debra Winger's or Peg Yorkin's daughter they wouldn't be whining about how unfair it is to keep Polanski locked up. That just goes to show you how warped the thinking is of his supporters. These two women have lost all creditibility when it comes to rape and women's rights. Sorry but art has nothing to do with the fact that the man commited a grevious crime and stole the childhood away from a young girl. Polanski belongs in jail for his crime as a pedophile as well as going on the lame for 31 years.

[Ramon]

This is makes me so glad, happy, joyous, jubilant, cheery, gay, lovable, just excited to see that pervert finally behind bars where he belonged 30 years ago. Now comes the best part, how can I get a ticket to see him behind bars here in L.A County? I’d give my entire paycheck (not much) to see that pedophile rot in jail with Bubba as his roommate. I would just look at his pathetic face and mock him until the guards kicked me out.

[Bucks Owin]

Roman Polanski is a disgusting lecher. For the life of me, I fail to understand anyone supporting this snake. The FACTS are that he RAPED a 13 yr old CHILD after plying her with booze and Qualudes. There is no such thing as "consentual sex" with a 13 yr old! DUH!!! If that were my daughter I'd figure out a way to gut shoot this waste of airspace. Wake up all you freaks in "Hollyweird"....

[Warren]

The time Polanski serves in the Zurich jail should be added on to the 42 days he spent in Chino. The deal was to serve 90 days or the judge was going to give Polanski 90 days in jail. Upon appearing in court Polanski should be set free for time already served.

[Sabrina]

Yay, Switzerland!

[kahs]

Rape is a crime of violence and control my sympathies most certainly do not lie with Mr. Polanski. I find it completely absurd that anyone would side with someone that committed such horrible acts on a child. Regardless of someone's profession they should be held accountable for their actions. Children should be protected from pedophiles like Polanski.

[I AM AMERICA]

Warren(posting at 9.30 am):

Do you have any daugthers?

Do you have a mother or sisters?

Do you have a soul?

[Marcia Twane]

The persecution of Roman Polanski exemplifies the corruption in the justice system of the United States…

From Samantha Geimer:

“We pressed charges, and he pleaded guilty. A plea bargain was agreed to by his lawyer, my lawyer and the district attorney, and it was approved by the judge. But to our amazement, at the last minute the judge went back on his word and refused to honor the deal.”

(Regardless of what you think about the charges being plead down, an agreement was made and approved by the judge. Then the judge went back on his word due to some very unsavory back room shenanigans. That was judicial misconduct.)

When something like this happens, our justice system ceases to be a “justice” system and becomes an unjust system. There is also a lot more to this than is included in this article.

Please see this piece written by Samantha Geimer from February of 2003:

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/wire/la-oe-samantha-geimer23-2003feb23,0,4716430.story

To all of you who are figuratively clamoring for Roman Polanski’s head, if you were in the same position, knowing all the nuances of what actually transpired (see the above statement from Samantha Geimer, etc.), you would do the same thing…

It is also very odd that the DA’s office has all of a sudden decided to pursue this now after more than 30 years. Polanski has traveled throughout Europe (and even owns a chalet in Switzerland). Why didn’t they go after him before? There are those who say that the current pursuit of Polanski is being used as a smokescreen to deflect attention away from the current failings of the DA’s office. There is truly something very wrong here.

Contact the DA’s office and let them know how you feel about them wasting the taxpayer’s dollars on this farce (when they should really be using their precious few resources to do the job they are elected/hired to do, like pursuing those issues that are currently harming all of us; the violence of the gangs of Los Angeles, the criminal behavior of executives of the credit card, bank and insurance companies, etc.):

District Attorney's Office
County of Los Angeles
210 West Temple Street, Suite 18000
Los Angeles, CA 90012-3210
Telephone (213) 974-3512
Fax (213) 974-1484
TTY (800) 457-7778
(8:30am - 5:00pm M-F)

(Please note that those of who dare to defend Roman Polanski are not defending his actions in relation to the girl. We're defending the fact that he was treated atrociously (and incorrectly) by the American judicial system and it's time for this country to start keeping its own house in order before daring to criticize others.)

=========

This post (by JohnRJ08) from another article/column has excellent details about the legal proceedings and the judicial misconduct at the time:

I think there is a lot of anger about what Polanski did to Samantha Geimer, but there is also a lot of anger at how the criminal justice system in Los Angeles dysfunctioned during that case. While it's clear that Polanski committed a Class B felony, it is also clear that the Judge Rittenband was guilty of blatant judicial misconduct which caused Polanski to flee the country.

The idea that a judge would consult with a reporter about what Polanski's sentence should have been and that he would discuss the case in chambers with a non-participant attorney was bad enough. The fact that he publicly bragged that he planned to renege on the plea bargain he had formerly agreed to in chambers and put Polanski "in prison for the rest of his life" was gross misconduct.

If Rittenband hadn't committed this misconduct and honored the plea deal, Polanski would not have fled the country and this entire ordeal would be behind everybody, including the victim. Even the prosecuting attorney, Gunson, says he doesn't blame Polanski for fleeing under Rittenband's threat.

The Chino facility which did the psychological evaluation of Polanski at the Judge's request, recommended no jail time, and the District Attorney's office agreed to this because it was a "first offense Class B felony". The judge decided to ignore that recommendation because he was afraid that the press would criticize him for being soft on celebrities. Of course, it is the same exact sentence that any non-celebrity first-time offender would have received, so it was not a case of coddling a celebrity.

The bottom line is that the judge set the wheels in motion for this +30-year long controversy. According to state sentencing guidelines, a Class B felony committed by a first-time offender only calls for a sentence of probation and/or up to 2 years in County Jail. Polanski pled guilty and was fully prepared to accept whatever the psychological evaluation at Chino recommended. Rittenband, for highly questionable reasons, ignored all of those facts.

Posted by: JohnRJ08 | October 04, 2009 at 08:55 AM

[C Town]

The problem with the Swiss Official Statement in regards to that it is a country of Law... That is all well and good, but what if they are hooking up with a Lawless Los Angeles agency?

Then the lawful Swiss just become an agent of the Lawless Los Angeles agency to scapegoat Roman Polanski for the sins of Los Angeles, and create a diversion from the State's financial woes.

Way Way Back in the last century - if Roman Polanski only received another 50 days in prison from Judge Laurence J. Rittenband- then Polanski would still have been forced by the Judge to agree to deportation.

Polanski was being coerced by the Judge, and if Polanski did not agree to lose his civil rights and agree to be deported - then the Santa Monica Judge, Judge Laurence J. Rittenband would certainly have given Polanski a far greater sentence.

When Judge Laurence R. Rittenband’s coerced Roman Polanski to give up his legal rights to dispute deportation this was an abuse of Santa Monica Judge Laurence J. Rittenband's Judicial power.

When Judge Laurence J. Rittenband in 1978 hinted that he was going to sentence Polanski to a greater sentence than was originally planned, when there was never a trial - it was at this point Roman Polanski complied with Judge Rittenband’s requested punishment for Polanski - by deporting himself.

Now 31 years later Los Angeles authorities are worrying that they have not punished Polanski enough.

But this is not true, he has been punished through the Judge Rittenband holding the threat of indeterminate imprisonment time over his head for months, along with wanting to take away Roman Polanski's rights to dispute deportation, and when the prosecutor Roger Gunson, and victim’s family and Chino prison officials only wanted probation for Polanski.

Polanski has also been punished as he served 42 days, and because if he had been treated fairly and with respect – even as an alleged sexual offender – and had not suffered the Abuse of Power by Judge Laurence J. Rittenband at Santa Monica Courthouse , Polanski would not have had to flee, and would have continued to be able to make movies in Hollywood California, and England once he had served his time.

[jasmine]

wow this is cool

[jasmine]

that is razy

[jasmine]

The facts are simple, Polanski pled guilty to having sex with a minor. This pedophile drugged a 13 year old and then sodomized her. After pleading guilty Polanski jumped bail and fled authorities. If Roamn Polanski's name was Father Polanski everyone would be clamoring for his immediate imprisonment. Since it isn't the Hollywood community has circled the wagons and envoked everything from the Holocaust to his art as some bastardized reason he should be allowed to remain free. If it was Debra Winger's or Peg Yorkin's daughter they wouldn't be whining about how unfair it is to keep Polanski locked up. That just goes to show you how warped the thinking is of his supporters. These two women have lost all creditibility when it comes to rape and women's rights. Sorry but art has nothing to do with the fact that the man commited a grevious crime and stole the childhood away from a young girl. Polanski belongs in jail for his crime as a pedophile as well as going on the lame for 31 years.