Roman Polanski was convicted in 1977 of having sex with a 13-year-old girl, but absconded from the United States before he could be sentenced.
Now there are international protests over his arrest by Swiss police at the request of the US authorities when he flew to Zurich to collect a lifetime achievement award.
The arrest was a slap in the face for the entire cultural community in Switzerland according to the Swiss Association of Directors.
Another Swiss association of directors (they have several) called it a grotesque judicial farce and a monstrous cultural scandal.
They weren't the only ones.
I think this is awful and totally unjust said Frederic Mitterrand, the French culture minister.
The Polish foreign minister said he was thinking of asking the US for clemency on behalf of Polanski.
What? Am I missing something here?
Polanski is a kiddy-fiddler on the run from the law. A child abuser.
His job has nothing to do with it.
I wonder what the Swiss Association of Directors, the French ministry of culture, and the Polish foreign ministry think about other kinds of child abusers? What would Miterrand have to say about a plumber arrested 32 years after raping a thirteen-year-old girl? Would Radoslaw Sikorski be seeking clemency for a mechanic who was finally tracked down after skipping the country?
Or is it that those who inhabit the world of The Arts somehow consider themselves above such mundane concerns as having to face justice for the crime of raping a child?
What does this remind me of? Let me think now …
Irish language poets?
Arts establishments
Nail him up I say, get him back to the States where he can be put on trial and lets see what happens……
I know for a fact if it was my child, I'd do time. x
He won't go on trial. He has already been convicted. Polanski is a fugitive from the law.
he will be tried in the court of public opinion…this crime has ducked under the radar for far to long… let the dogs loose… rapists and pedarists are the bottom feeders in the criminal cannon…it matters not one iota that he is an "artiste"…im on side with sunrise as any decent ordinary human being would be…the authorities need to deport mr polanski if there going to maintain respect from a watching world…
I always said thirteen was unlucky! But on a serious note; it's the old adage, you can run, but you can't hide!
I live here in France and it would be comical if it wasn't true the attitude of not only the French but the artistic community at large that someone that drugged and raped a 13yr old girl should be defended with such vigor. How do you catogorise these people?
He is a convicted rapist of children and needs to be locked away.So it seems all the actor luvvies ignore this fact or believe the law does not apply to them because they have money or are famous…josef fritzl enjoys finger painting,why dont they petition his release,a shower of idiots who need a reality check
Just an afterthought but many people are saying that the fact that the crime happened 30years ago it should be treated differently are the same people saying that old concentration guards should not be convicted?
Old crimes can sometimes be problematic if there's difficulty finding witnesses.
This is different, however, since Polanski has already pleaded guilty and been convicted.
This one really confuses me.
Now, I know his plea bargain "entitled" him to plead guilty to the somewhat more innocuous charge of having unlawful sex with a minor, but the truth is that he drugged, raped and sodomised a crying, protesting little girl after promising to photograph her, an offer both herself and her mother were understandably thrilled by.
How in Jesus' name does anyone defend that?
The whole thing is being smothered under legalese and allegations of judicial misconduct … almost to cushion everyone from the nasty truth.
I am absolutley gobsamcked by the reactions of some people. In France (Polanski is a French citizen) François Mitterrand the Minister for culture came out in his defence, saying what a travesty of justice this. The French foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said there was some thign very wrong about the whole situation. Sarkozy has said he will be keeping a close eye on the case (code for sticking his oar in), a huge group of artists and directors have come together to signa petition for his release. One radio presenter on Europe 1 radio station said 'she was 13… but 25 in her head'
WHAT THE FUCK! How can this be the case? How can people defend this creep. OK, he's a great director, so? OK there were some irregularities with the judge, but Polanski plead guilty. In interview since he has admitted that this girl was neither the first nor the last. He said that ALL men are attracted to underage girls and that if everyone who had sex with an under age girl went to prison then half the people would be there. Only in your world Polanski, you sick fuck.
Now Bock, you've studied a good few cases of child abuse so perhaps you'd be of the same opinion as me that paedophiles rarely operate alone. In the Marc Detrou case we saw that the paeodphile network he supplied was full of very powerful people. Powerful enoguh for him to have escaped twice, and now when I look at this Polanski case I can't help but wonder, as Polanski has made it clear he will do anything to avoid extradition and prison.
That's an interesting point. I don't know if he was working alone or not, and I don't know if he continued to abuse children after he fled the US, but it seems unlikely that an abuser would stop suddenly.
I cannot believe some of the folks who have signed up to the 'free Roman' cause – Walter Salles, Pedro Almodovar, Wes Anderson, Tilda Swinton. They're all now on my despicable people list.
He copped a 'guilty' plea to a lesser charge, akin to unlawful carnal knowledge, and was sent for psychiatric evaluation prior to sentencing. He escaped the drugging, rape and sodomy charges, of a 13 year-old child, and then he ran away rather than do the time. He needs to be dragged back to a US penitentiary to do his time, with additional time for having absconded.
Well, well well.
I came across something interesting today. Fréderic Mitterrand (François' nephew. I made a mistake in my above post) French Minister of Culture, who was one of the first to come out in Polanski's defence, caling his arrest 'appalling' and saying the US had 'shown it's true face', tells in his biographie 'La Mauvaise Vie' [the bad life] tells of his trips to Bangkok where he solicited sex from very young boys.
I cannot find any info on exact ages but apparently it included Thailands legal limit and possibly below.
Bock, to you remember the Irish judge with child porn on his computer and the search warrent that was one day out of date?
Polanski will not go back to the US willingly, and who knows what types of deals he might make (or inded names he might drop) should he be forced to bargain on his own behalf. I think it's definitly something to keep in mind as we watch this develope.
Althiugh there was no suggestion of illegality in whatever Cathal Ó Searcaigh did, the closing of ranks among the artistic fraternity reminds me of the way Aosdána formed a protective circle rather than listen to what was being said.
It's funny, but I was thinking of your post on Ó Searcaigh when I was reading about Mitterrrand. Mitterrand is a bit of an artist too and has writen books and made documentaries. I feel in this case it would be more like if Bono was caught for raping a child and Ó Searcaigh came out in his defence BUT as a member of the Government, and then Cowen said he would keep a close eye on the affair.
Whoopie Goldberg said this in defence of the predatory active pedophile Polanski; "yea, but it wasn't rape-rape"!!
That's right. It was child-rape.
I got a question! If all these people in cinema are against his release then I think he should be let go on one condition! He should be obliged to make his next movie about a 13 yr old girl that is drugged and raped by a 44 year old man. The glitterati of the movie business should be obliged to cast the girl. I would be very curious to see who would propose a niece, daughter, sister or child of a friend! Of course the sex scenes should be as real as possible. Lets see the Oscar intro for that one.
Just a thought.
Roman Polanski is guilty of abusing a minor and he really deservers to be in jail.