Roman Polanski grateful for international support, attorney says

Director Roman Polanski told his attorney that he is grateful for the backing he has received from around the world, his attorney said.

Polanski, who was arrested in Zurich, Switzerland, three decades after fleeing the U.S. to avoid sentencing in a sex assault case involving a 13-year-old girl, has received statements of support from such Hollywood figures as producer Harvey Weinstein and directors Woody Allen and Martin Scorsese. 

Supporters have questioned why Los Angeles prosecutors want to extradite Polanski to the United States now. Others, however, have praised law enforcement officials for wanting to bring Polanski to justice.

In an interview with the French news agency AFP, attorney Herve Temime said Polanski is aware of the debate.

"The filmmaker is very touched by the support he has received," he said.

Temime also said Polanski is also aware that the support might have hurt his cause. "He also knows that some of it is counterproductive," he told AFP.

A team of American attorneys for Polanski met with a deputy assistant attorney general and other Justice Department officials Oct. 2 and presented them with arguments against returning the director to the U.S. to face sentencing on a statutory rape charge, according to a letter included in an appellate court filing Wednesday.

Polanski, 76, was arrested Sept. 26. He fled the U.S. on the eve of his 1978 sentencing for unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor, a 13-year-old girl who told police he raped and sodomized her during a photo shoot.

-- Shelby Grad

Photo: Director Roman Polanski at the Cannes Film Festival in May 2007. Credit: Anne-Christine Poujoulat / AFP/Getty Images

Comments

[drbenk]

International support? Let's see Frederic Mitterand who buys sex from boys in Thailand per his autobiography supports Polanski. Woody Allen, who married his wife's daughter supports him. Goldstein of the LA Times, who thinks he's been punished enough because he hasn't been in Hollywood for 32 years and is just like Les Miserables, suports him. Where are the normal people? Why aren't normal people supporting this admitted rapist?

[myfailsafe]

Perv Jerk!

[Page]

Has anyone considered that because Polanski fled the U.S., this case keeps being resurrected over and over again like Dracula to the horror and agony of the victim? And that the victim is fated to relive the rape over and over again each time the media puts a spotlight on it? Her life and the pain she went through is opened up again and again... all because Polanski refused to be a man 30 years ago and fled the U.S. (well, what "man" would drug and rape a child in the first place?). Does Polanski, or his supporters, ever think about the fact that because he refused to pay the price for his sub-human behavior towards a child, he has condemned his victim to relive it over and over for the rest of her life everytime Polanski is in the news? Because of his cowardness to face a "modicum of justice," his victim continues to be, and will continue to be, victimized. Does Weinstein or any other Polanski supporter THINK about that? No, they don't think about the child this woman once was; they don't think about a 13 year old, impressionable girl being drugged, raped and then sodomized while she repeated said "No, please don't." They don't think about it because, hey, these people have so much money, so much "power", and so many sycophants saying how great they are, how can they possible relate to the rape of a child? It's just so unbelievable what scum these people are.... Polanski (so he's had heartbreak in his past -- get a friggin grip!! EVERYONE has had heartbreak in their past), Weinstein (super-idiot), Scorsese (idiot), Allen (Paaleeze! don't get me started on this creep-pedophile!), Cruz (shud-up!), Goldberg (major-moron), Winger (stupid), all of them. Disgusting sub-humans. Maybe we should find their children and drug them, rape them, sodomize them, and then say, "Gee, just a little mistake, no biggy, it's really not rape-rape anyway." ...... Afterall, the child probably wanted it, right?

[myla seidel]

You do the crime. you do the crime. from a rape victiam (sic)

[Kevin]

How SAD is it that this PEDOPHILE is getting international support?

[G]

I am so sorry, but all i can think about when i see his picture is- rape is still rape.

[Sure]

What international (minus the U.S.) support?

[Marge]

God, I hope they bring this monster down. It wouldnt have mattered if their evil deeds are contained among themselves, those who support them, Im sure Whoopi Goldberd does that too, sodomizing whoever, or she could have been too, but a 13 year old girl?

Clearly the supporters dont know anymore what is evil and what is not, to them this is just their way of life.

[BobIn SantaMonica]

In his autobiography, Polanski wrote: "I am widely regarded, I know, as an evil, profligate dwarf"

[champ]

thats so touching that he is so grateful as he continues to stay in jail. hahahahha

[TR]

Roman Polanski is disgusting. He's greatful for all his disgusting friends who are supporting him. Unbelievable!

[Pete Moreno]

What is wrong with these people? First of all, have you read the transcripts of just what he admitted to?? God knows what he really did to her. Secondly, do you really think that she is the only victim? You honestly think that this pure and saintly man got caught the only time he did this? People, get a grip- given his sense of entitlement I would imagine that she is one of many. Do any of his defenders actually have children? I am not much on boycotts as a rule and I totally believe in free speech however I really want a list of these Hollywood fools who think that "Roman has suffered enough". They are welcome to their opinion and I am equally welcome, not to mention determined, not to give any time or money to their endeavors.

[Mike]

Polanski was *convicted* of a crime. That much is not being contested. To make him unto some kind of tragic hero insults the laws of our nation. He fled this country like a rat, rather than facing his guilt like a man. We should hold him up as an object to scorn, not to say platitudes about.

[L Acton]

People and the media’s focus seems to be on the crime of statutory rape, but to focus on that exclusively - is to eclipse the California authorities crime against Roman Polanski where Santa Monica Courthouse Judge Rittenband was about to renege on the California plea bargain agreement which was made with Roman Polanski in order to obtain Polanski's confession.

Roman Polanski's lawyer Herve Temime would be correct in believing the “Hollywood” support for Polanski has hurt Roman Polanski's case if the Authorities are going focus on a couple of “Hollywood” comments which are irrelevant to Polanski's case, and ignore the rest of the support where people have not in any shape or form condoned statutory rape.

But attorney Herve Termine will be wrong - if the authorities are going to focus on what they should be focusing on - which is the ridiculous amount of time - 31 years -before the California Authorities acted to extradite Roman Polanski who has not been in hiding all this time.

And Termine will also be wrong if the Authorities deal with and own up to the Santa Monica Courthouse corruption where Judge Rittenband was about to renege on the plea bargain agreement with Roman Polanksi which caused Polanski to run.

Even in California "Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely"

[john moody]

Roman Polanski is a sexual preditor and should prosecuted as such.

[gingerman]

Heartwarming

when Polanski is eventually released from California prison, Weinstein, Allen and Scorsese can take him to Thailand for a "celebration". Maybe Mitterand can join them.

[Pablo]

If Roman Polanski was a Guatemalan tilesetter convicted of some other felony in California and who fled to Italy to escape a prison sentence, do you think anybody would care? Why do rich celebrities deserve special treatment?

Why does the opinion of any person in France matter at all when it comes to enforcing the law in California? If people in France want to allow rich filmmakers to rape vulnerable children, let them do it in France. Heck, if Hollywood celebs think that sex crimes against children are silly, let them move to France. As far as I'm concerned, we have no place for people here who think they're above the law.

[jmoore]

The rich get justice and the poor get the law. Any takers that he never get returned to the United States ?

[Manny]

The California prosecutor's focus seems to be on the crime of statutory rape, but focusing on that crime exclusively - is eclipsing and covering up the California's crime against Roman Polanski where Santa Monica Courthouse Judge Rittenband would have reneged on the California plea bargain agreement made with Roman Polanski in order to obtain Polanski's confession.

So Roman Polanski was tricked by Santa Monica Courthouse authorities into his confession through those Officials offering a lesser amount of time in order to get his confession - and he was also tricked by the Santa Monica authorities not revealing that part of the punishment would be that he agree to deportation. So the problem was that the punishment was not solid and was increasing and undetermined after the plea agreement had been made, which would be frightening to anyone.

Roman Polanski's lawyer Herve Temime would be correct to assume that “Hollywood” support for Polanski has hurt Roman Polanski's case if Officials are only going to look to Hollywood comments for their reason to convict Polanski for comments that he did not make.

But Termine is incorrect because I believe much of the support is coming from people who do not condone either statutory rape or abuse of Judicial power.
The people who are supporting Polanski are not forgetting the abuse of Judicial power.

In addition Roman Polanski has support because of the ridiculous amount of time - 31 years -before the California Authorities acted to extradite Roman Polanski who has not been hiding.

And also Roman Polanski has support because the extradition seems to be in retaliation to Marina Zenovitch's movie "Polanski - Wanted and Desired" which speaks to the Judicial Misconduct,

and also the wish for extradition 31 years later seems to be in retaliation because Polanski's lawyers wrote in the California appeal briefs that the County Prosecutor had never tried to extradite Polanski in 30 years.

Roman Polanski has support for a host of different reasons but primarily because of abuse of power by Judge Rittenband which caused Polanski to run, and because he has served 42 days, and because the victim does not want this now, and because he apparently paid her a settlement, and because he has certainly had enough heartache in his life which he did not cause.

[Morgan]

I suppose that as long as the media continues to portray Polanski's 31 year-old crimes as simply "a sex assault case involving a 13-year-old girl," Polanski will continue to gain support from the uninformed.
If the media were to more accurately describe Polanski's conduct as "the intoxication, drugging, oral copulation, forcible rape and sodomy of a 13-year-old girl," the support would not be quite so robust.
If Polanski were a priest there would not be any sympathy for him. The fact that his conduct is no different from the atrocities committed by priests should mean that he should be dealt with similarly.
The Obama administration's credibility is on the line here. If they interfere with the extradition process because of "Big Hollywood's" influence, it will not be forgotten.

[Tornadoes28]

International support? What international support. People are abandoning him like a sinking ship.

[A. Wright]

People are always looking for something to get angry over. What happened thirty years ago was seen as something that the judge allotted a plea bargain for. As a victim of rape, I still don't see this as that.
When a thirteen year old girl is giving qualuudes to a man in his thrties, something's wrong on the mother's end, why did such a young girl have drugs like this in the first place? Might I also add, that as a former model, if you're a minor, there's supposed to be a guardian with you at photo shoots.

I think people should definitely watch the documentary on this man's life before they judge so severely something they heard in passing. The name of it is 'Wanted and Desired'. Make your own conclusions after seeing it.

Most obvious is the fact that the victim doesn't hold anything against Mr. Polanski, and that she doesn't want him deported back to the U.S.

[Jim Steinman]

When I was reading all those medieval lynch-law-comments, I thought at first, Bin Laden had been arrested. Is this really the 21st century?

[John Tankersley]

This guy drugged and raped a 13 year old girl. Leave it to the movie elite in hoolywood to sign a petition of support. They all make me sick!!!

[John Tankersley]

How can anyone defend this man in any which way! He is a vile rapist.