Swiss tribunal to decide on bail for Roman Polanski in 2 to 3 weeks, officials say

Swiss justice officials said they will decide within the next few weeks whether to allow Roman Polanski to go free on bail.

Polanski is behind bars in a Zurich prison, awaiting possible extradition to Los Angeles to face sentencing after he pleaded guilty to having sex with a 13-year-old girl more than 30 years ago. Polanski fled L.A. just before sentencing from a judge that the famed director felt was treating him unfairly. Polanski has said he would fight extradition.

Officials of the Federal Criminal Tribunal in Switzerland said that body will soon decide whether Polanski, 76, can be set free on bail.

"A decision on the matter will probably be issued in the next two to three weeks," Mascia Gregori Al-Barafi told the AFP news agency.

Swiss officials have said Polanski would face up to two years in prison if he returned to Los Angeles.

-- Shelby Grad

Photo: Roman Polanski. Credit: Los Angeles Times archives.

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Comments

[confucius]

Bail for Polanski? hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha

[DickNasty]

I guess it will take the Polanski camp that long to round up a slush fund for his dismissal of charges

[Rosee]

This "man" has proved that he IS a flight risk...nuff said!

I just hope the Swiss aren't persuaded by $$$ or misguided celebrities. I hope they realize that it's the money that he has at his disposal that will also allow him to flee and avoid the sentence he brought on himself.

[Stop The Madness]

Why will the decision take so long? He's the biggest flight risk on the planet, bail denied. End of story.

How people actually rally behind this disgusting cretin defies logic.

[EvilJoker]

How much is freedom worth? Guaranteed when he makes bail he will forfeit it and never face prosecution again. This child molesting rapist deserves to be hanged. Drugged and anally raped a 13 year old and people watch his crappy movies and they have made him a millionaire? What a world we live in. Glorify rapists and vilify victims. Give me 5 minutes alone with him.

[mikeohara]

Won't he just skip bail and go back to France? I mean, how high would bail have to be to deter him from skipping if he faces two years in jail here? France won't extradite him. Then he'll live out his years in France, garnering accolades from Hollywood from afar.

[green 2408]

Is this the deliberation after the "very,very substantial" cash offer of a couple of weeks ago?? What's to debate - do a bunch of people have to sit around in a room and talk about it for 3 weeks?
What I can't understand is RP's thinking - he's wasting on all this money on attorneys that could better be going to his wife and kids eventually, who are going to need it, since my bet is he's going to be coming to the US and spend some more time incarcerated no matter how much he fights it. It seems like it would have been so much more in his and his family's interest if he had returned to the US voluntarily the minute he was arrested. You have to wonder if he's getting bad legal advice or what.

[Tom]

You're right. Unlikely he will be granted bail and just delaying the inevitable. On the other hand if he is granted bail he will be guarded round the clock wherever he is. And of course he will be returned to U.S. custody at some point. A treaty is a treaty and he's not going to be executed here. One thing I am sure, when he does set foot on U.S. soil it will be an event only second to Neil Armstrong setting foot on the moon.

[S Naille]

I think Roman Polanski's life gives us an example of how the Horror of Bad Governments can take away liberty, and how freedom is gained and then lost over time.

Roman Polanski through necessity ran away from a very Bad government early on in his life, because If he hadn't of run away like his father told him to do - he would surely - have perished.

Roman Polanski faced another bad government again - decades later in the Santa Monica Courthouse California.

Crime or no Crime the County of Los Angeles Judge Laurence J. Rittenband was about to RAILROAD Roman Polanski into involuntary deportation through threatening him with indeterminate prison time - even though Roman Polanski had served the original non-appealable plea bargain term of imprisonment.

So in 1978 Roman Polanski was under the belief that had no alternative but to escape from the Santa Monica Judge Laurence J. Rittenband as it was unclear how much prison time he was facing, and the Judge had reneged on the plea bargain agreement.

He again had to run from the Horror of Bad Government who threatened excessive punishment,and who wanted to take away his freedom for an indeterminate time...

RUNNING AWAY FROM DANGER & INJUSTICE AND THE HORROR OF BAD GOVERNMENT WAS A NECESSITY THAT STARTED VERY EARLY ON IN ROMAN POLANSKI'S LIFE

IT DOESN'T MATTER WHICH SIDE OF THE ATLANTIC - IN THE FACE OF UNJUST GOVERNMENT, RUNNING AWAY FROM INJUSTICE BECAME HIS MOTIF

HIS ROSEBUD

[Keith Richard Radford Jr]

There is no question Tom is correct. Time and unforeseen occurrences befall us all. We can not fear what we do not know or want too understand. In all sensibility age does not matter, life is short and though some feel compelled to place electrodes on their man/woman~ifestation of their own worst fear projected on others, creating the crab in a bucket routine, keeping us all from seeing any freedom to sin? That in its self is a direct contradiction to the meaning of free moral agent.

[Lin McKay]

I, for one, pray that the Swiss do not allow Polanski bail. So far the Swiss have shined to the world in their tough stance, don't throw all that respect away. Polanski must serve time for his crime. Don't let him skate again like he has for more than thirty years. We are counting on the Swiss government to stay the course.

[karl gray]

NONSENCE HE DRUGGED RAPED AND SODOMISED A THIRTEEN YEAR OLD GIRL HE SHOULD ROT IN JAIL FOR THE REST OF HIS LIFE NO EXCUSE IS ACCEPTABLE
ANYONE ATTEMPTING TO DOWN PLAY THE HIS ACTIONS SHOULD HAVE THERE SEXUALITY INVESTIGATED.CHILDREN MUST BE PROTECTED FROM THESE MONSTERS

[Mark]

Let him go already. He's already paid enough. His original plea agreement was for PROBATION for God's sake.

[Bill Gibbon]

THREE GENERATIONS MURDERED AND TWO GENERATIONS - MURDERED BY SOME OF CALIFORNIA'S FINEST.

IN ADDITION CALIFORNIA JUSTICE IS GOING TO THROW THE BOOK AT THE MAN FOR HAVING CONSENSUAL SEX - AFTER THREE GENERATIONS OF POLANSKI'S FAMILY HAD BEEN MURDERED

TALK ABOUT DISCRIMINATION AND A LACK OF COMPASSION IN THE POLANSKI CASE.

THE NON AMERICAN BORN POLANSKI MUST WALK ON EGG SHELLS IN CALIFORNIA - BETTER NO SEX FOR POLANSKI IN CALIFORNIA BECAUSE THE GIRL HOISTED ONTO HIM BY HER MOTHER - MIGHT TURN OUT TO BE UNDERAGE

TWO THUMBS DOWN TO CALIFORNIA INJUSTICE IN THE POLANSKI CASE

IT IS NOT TRUE THAT HE HAS BEEN TREATED LIKE EVERYONE ELSE - AND HE NEVER WILL BE