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Roman Polanski detained in Zurich


Farin

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[smaller]Sunday, 27 September 2009, BBC NEWS, Link[/smaller]

Director Roman Polanski has been taken into custody on a 31-year-old US arrest warrant, Swiss police have confirmed.

The film-maker, 76, was detained on Saturday as he travelled to Switzerland to collect a lifetime achievement award at the Zurich Film Festival.

Mr Polanski admitted unlawful sex with a 13-year-old girl in the US in 1977, but fled to France before sentencing.

In recent years, he has tried to have the rape case dismissed, but a US judge formally rejected his requests in May.

Mr Polanski was initially indicted on six felony counts and faced up to life in prison.

He claims the original judge, who is now dead, arranged a plea bargain but later reneged.

Earlier this year, Judge Peter Espinoza agreed there was misconduct by the judge in the original case, but said Mr Polanski must return to the US to apply for dismissal.

Mr Polanski's lawyers said he would not return to the US because he would be immediately arrested as a fugitive.

The victim at the centre of the case, Samantha Geimer, has also asked for the charges to be dropped, saying the continued publication of details "causes harm to me, my husband and children".

She has also called the court's insistence that Mr Polanski appear in person "a cruel joke".

The Polish-born filmmaker has not set foot in the US for more than 30 years. He has even avoided making films in the UK for fear of extradition.

His Oscar for directing the 2002 The Pianist was collected by Harrison Ford, who had previously starred in his 1988 thriller, Frantic.

The organisers of the Zurich Film Festival said Polanski's detention had caused "shock and dismay," but that they would go ahead with a planned retrospective of the director's work.

A special ceremony is planned for Sunday night "to allow everyone to express their solidarity for Roman Polanski and their admiration for his work," festival managers said in a statement.

Switzerland has an extradition treaty with the US.

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While I admire the US' sense of no statute of limitations for terrible crimes ; one that Japan is just now considering for murder , of all things , one has to wonder just to or for whom justice is being served here . The victim has decided to forgive and give tentative support for it to just go away , so pursuing this only reveals a Puritan zealotry by the judiciary which has rarely served the country well in the past - as well as costing taxpayers a small fortune. Shouldn't her wishes, being the wronged party , supersede those of the courts ?

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I agree with you Edna about young girls passing themselves off as being older - especially for the chance to be with a celebrity or someone they really like , and this was the sleazy '70's to boot .

I'm guessing , but I think that by her reaction to this whole thing , Polanski has tried to make some restitution toward her ; either financial or otherwise and she appears to be content with it . Clearly , her life has not been devastated by it . Let's carry on .

Charlie Chaplin, Jerry Lee Lewis and and endless list of other celebs have had the same faults ; shall we try them too in hindsight to make a point that few will care about or even heed ?

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She was 13. He knew she was 13. He drugged her then raped her. He admitted guilt, but left the country when it was time for sentencing. Because he left the country, the statute of limitations time stopped. It is sad that he lost his mother in a concentration camp and that his pregnant wife was murdered, but that is not an excuse for him to victimize a child. There are too many other people that have been through huge tragedies in their lives and NOT committed serious felonies.

I am glad that the victim has forgiven him and that she was able to move on with her life. I dont suppose a large out of court settlement had too much to do with that........

It is a huge waste of money to bring him back, but it should be done. Maybe he and Phil Specter could share a cell.

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She was 13. He knew she was 13. He drugged her then raped her. He admitted guilt, but left the country when it was time for sentencing. Because he left the country, the statute of limitations time stopped. It is sad that he lost his mother in a concentration camp and that his pregnant wife was murdered, but that is not an excuse for him to victimize a child. There are too many other people that have been through huge tragedies in their lives and NOT committed serious felonies.

I am glad that the victim has forgiven him and that she was able to move on with her life. I dont suppose a large out of court settlement had too much to do with that........

It is a huge waste of money to bring him back, but it should be done. Maybe he and Phil Specter could share a cell.

I don't dispute you , my friend, but just see it differently and not from a simply legal point of view , I guess . His, at that time, were days of of drug excess , I'm certain - and what mother let's a 13 year old go to a photo shoot alone ? It strikes me as little different than Bill Clinton , and he has been allowed to go on and try to do better ...

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She was 13. He knew she was 13. He drugged her then raped her. He admitted guilt, but left the country when it was time for sentencing. Because he left the country, the statute of limitations time stopped.

I'll remind you then , I guess , that there are literally thousands of 13 and 14 year old girls willing to give up their virginity for any number of reasons - most being poor , but it doesn't stop them , and they rarely, if ever , get any press about it . It's just a mistake that they have to live with .

Granted , Polanski should have known and acted better , but then he just joins a long line of men that didn't .

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Jimmy Page had a year or so long affair with a 14 year old girl when he was 28-29. I'm not condoning what Polanski did, I'm saying he was hardly the only older guy to have carnal relations with someone much younger than he. And I'm pretty sure in Jimmy Page's case, drugs and/or alcohol were involved most of the time, after all....he was in Led Zeppelin.

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this conversation has caused me to remember a friend from long ago... I knew her when we were in our late 20s. She told me she was 11 when she lost her virginity to a 21-year-old. In her case, though, she said that she had wanted to do it, and she didn't regret it. I have to wonder about any adult wanting anything to do with any girl (sexually) before they have even hit puberty - whether she wants to or not. Sick, sick, sick.

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I am not of the opinion that a person who is under the influence of drugs and/or alcohol can give consent, no matter their age. It is rape. Her mother did not act appropriately, either. It would appear all she was interested in was $ or the glamor of being associated with a director. Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky's tryst was between two adults. She was also sober at the time, if I am not mistaken. While him cheating on his wife in a location that is supposedly a hallowed place was not his best move, lying about it under oath was what got people upset more than the act.

I can agree that there are lots of 13 and 14 year old GIRLS that want to lose their virginity for whatever reason, but they are not old enough to legally give consent in most places in the world. I have handled or assigned numerous child abuse cases over the last 14 years. Very few were consensual, many involved drugs or alcohol, all were illegal.

The list of people in rock that have had sex with under aged girls is long and distinguished.

I just dont subscribe to the notion that somebody should be given a pass on something they have done just because of celebrity, because they have had a rough life, or because of what is accepted in a particular subculture.

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Here y'go

Reminder: Roman Polanski raped a child

[PG-13 starts here]

"Let's keep in mind that Roman Polanski gave a 13-year-old girl a Quaalude and champagne, then raped her, before we start discussing whether the victim looked older than her 13 years, or that she now says she'd rather not see him prosecuted because she can't stand the media attention. Before we discuss how awesome his movies are or what the now-deceased judge did wrong at his trial, let's take a moment to recall that according to the victim's grand jury testimony, Roman Polanski instructed her to get into a jacuzzi naked, refused to take her home when she begged to go, began kissing her even though she said no and asked him to stop; performed cunnilingus on her as she said no and asked him to stop; put his penis in her vagina as she said no and asked him to stop; asked if he could penetrate her anally, to which she replied, "No," then went ahead and did it anyway, until he had an orgasm."

[end of PG-13]

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There are strange things done in the midnight sun

By the men who moil for gold;

The Arctic trails have their secret tales

That would make your blood run cold;

The Northern Lights have seen queer sights,

But the queerest they ever did see

Was that night on the marge of Lake Lebarge

I cremated Sam McGee.

Now Sam McGee was from Tennessee, where the cotton blooms and blows.

Why he left his home in the South to roam ‘round the Pole, God only knows.

He was always cold, but the land of gold seemed to hold him like a spell;

Though he’d often say in his homely way that “he’d sooner live in hell.â€

On a Christmas Day we were mushing our way over the Dawson trail.

Talk of your cold! through the parka’s fold it stabbed like a driven nail.

If our eyes we’d close, then the lashes froze till sometimes we couldn’t see;

It wasn’t much fun, but the only one to whimper was Sam McGee.

And that very night, as we lay packed tight in our robes beneath the snow,

And the dogs were fed, and the stars o’erhead were dancing heel and toe,

He turned to me, and “Cap,†says he, “I’ll cash in this trip, I guess;

And if I do, I’m asking that you won’t refuse my last request.â€

Well, he seemed so low that I couldn’t say no; then he says with a sort of moan:

“It’s the cursed cold, and it’s got right hold till I’m chilled clean through to the bone.

Yet ‘taint being dead—it’s my awful dread of the icy grave that pains;

So I want you to swear that, foul or fair, you’ll cremate my last remains.â€

A pal’s last need is a thing to heed, so I swore I would not fail;

And we started on at the streak of dawn; but God! he looked ghastly pale.

He crouched on the sleigh, and he raved all day of his home in Tennessee;

And before nightfall a corpse was all that was left of Sam McGee.

There wasn’t a breath in that land of death, and I hurried, horror-driven,

With a corpse half hid that I couldn’t get rid, because of a promise given;

It was lashed to the sleigh, and it seemed to say: “You may tax your brawn and brains,

But you promised true, and it’s up to you to cremate those last remains.â€

Now a promise made is a debt unpaid, and the trail has its own stern code.

In the days to come, though my lips were dumb, in my heart how I cursed that load.

In the long, long night, by the lone firelight, while the huskies, round in a ring,

Howled out their woes to the homeless snows—O God! how I loathed the thing.

And every day that quiet clay seemed to heavy and heavier grow;

And on I went, though the dogs were spent and the grub was getting low;

The trail was bad, and I felt half mad, but I swore I would not give in;

And I’d often sing to the hateful thing, and it hearkened with a grin.

Till I came to the marge of Lake Lebarge, and a derelict there lay;

It was jammed in the ice, but I saw in a trice it was called the “Alice May.â€

And I looked at it, and I thought a bit, and I looked at my frozen chum;

Then “Here,†said I, with a sudden cry, “is my cre-ma-tor-eum.â€

Some planks I tore from the cabin floor, and I lit the boiler fire;

Some coal I found that was lying around, and I heaped the fuel higher;

The flames just soared and the furnace roared—such a blaze you seldom see;

Then I burrowed a hole in the glowing coal, and I stuffed in Sam McGee.

Then I made a hike, for I didn’t like to hear him sizzle so;

And the heavens scowled, and the huskies howled, and the wind began to blow.

It was icy cold, but the hot sweat rolled down my cheeks, and I don’t know why;

And the greasy smoke in an inky cloak went streaking down the sky.

I do not know how long in the snow I wrestled with grisly fear;

But the stars came out and they danced about ere again I ventured near;

I was sick with dread, but I bravely said: “I’ll just take a peep inside.

I guess he’s cooked, and it’s time I looked;†. . . then the door I opened wide.

And there sat Sam, looking cool and calm, in the heart of the furnace roar;

And he wore a smile you could see a mile, and he said: “Please close that door.

It’s fine in here, but I greatly fear you’ll let in the cold and storm—

Since I left Plumtree, down in Tennessee, it’s the first time I’ve been warm.â€

There are strange things done in the midnight sun

By the men who moil for gold;

The Arctic trails have their secret tales

That would make your blood run cold;

The Northern Lights have seen queer sights,

But the queerest they ever did see

Was that night on the marge of Lake Lebarge

I cremated Sam McGee.

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Here y'go

Reminder: Roman Polanski raped a child

[PG-13 starts here]

"Let's keep in mind that Roman Polanski gave a 13-year-old girl a Quaalude and champagne, then raped her, before we start discussing whether the victim looked older than her 13 years, or that she now says she'd rather not see him prosecuted because she can't stand the media attention. Before we discuss how awesome his movies are or what the now-deceased judge did wrong at his trial, let's take a moment to recall that according to the victim's grand jury testimony, Roman Polanski instructed her to get into a jacuzzi naked, refused to take her home when she begged to go, began kissing her even though she said no and asked him to stop; performed cunnilingus on her as she said no and asked him to stop; put his penis in her vagina as she said no and asked him to stop; asked if he could penetrate her anally, to which she replied, "No," then went ahead and did it anyway, until he had an orgasm."

[end of PG-13]

Out-frikken-standing post!!

I salute you!!!

Now if only slime like Scorcese, Allen, Lynch, Landis and the others petitioning for his release would understand the "crime" he has committed and yet to pay for.

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