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Swiss arrest Polanski over 1977 child-sex charge
Source: Agencies |
September 28, 2009, Monday
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DIRECTOR Roman Polanski was arrested by Swiss police for possible extradition to the United States for having sex in 1977 with a 13-year-old girl, authorities said yesterday.
Polanski was flying in to receive an honorary award at the Zurich Film Festival when he was apprehended on Saturday at the airport, the Swiss Justice Ministry said in a statement. It said US authorities have sought the arrest of the 76-year-old around the world since 2005.
"There was a valid arrest request and we knew when he was coming," ministry spokesman Guido Balmer said. "That's why he was taken into custody." Balmer said the US would now be given time to make a formal extradition request.
Polanski fled the US in 1978, a year after pleading guilty to unlawful sexual intercourse with the underage girl.
The director has asked a US appeals court in California to overturn a judges' refusal to throw out his case. He claims misconduct by the now-deceased judge who arranged a plea bargain then reneged on it.
Polanski has faced a US arrest request since 1978 and has lived for the past three decades in France, where his career has continued to flourish. He received a directing Oscar in absentia for the 2002 movie "The Pianist." He was not extradited from France because his crime reportedly was not covered under US treaties with the country.
A native of France, Polanski was taken to Poland by his parents. He escaped Krakow's Jewish ghetto as a child and lived off the charity of strangers. His mother died at the Auschwitz Nazi death camp.
Alcohol and drugs
He worked his way into filmmaking in Poland, gaining an Oscar nomination for best foreign-language film in 1964 for his "Knife in the Water." Offered entry to Hollywood, he directed the classic "Rosemary's Baby" in 1968.
In 1969 his pregnant wife, actress Sharon Tate, and four other people were gruesomely murdered by followers of Charles Manson.
In 1977, he was accused of raping the teenager while photographing her during a modeling session. The girl said Polanski plied her with champagne and a drug. She said, despite her protests, he performed oral sex, intercourse and sodomy on her.
Polanski pleaded guilty to one of six charges, unlawful sexual intercourse, and was sent to prison for 42 days of evaluation.
Lawyers agreed that would be his full sentence, but the judge tried to renege on the plea bargain so Polanski fled to France.
The victim, Samantha Geimer, has joined in Polanski's bid for dismissal, saying she wants the case to be over. She sued Polanski and reached an undisclosed settlement.
Polanski was flying in to receive an honorary award at the Zurich Film Festival when he was apprehended on Saturday at the airport, the Swiss Justice Ministry said in a statement. It said US authorities have sought the arrest of the 76-year-old around the world since 2005.
"There was a valid arrest request and we knew when he was coming," ministry spokesman Guido Balmer said. "That's why he was taken into custody." Balmer said the US would now be given time to make a formal extradition request.
Polanski fled the US in 1978, a year after pleading guilty to unlawful sexual intercourse with the underage girl.
The director has asked a US appeals court in California to overturn a judges' refusal to throw out his case. He claims misconduct by the now-deceased judge who arranged a plea bargain then reneged on it.
Polanski has faced a US arrest request since 1978 and has lived for the past three decades in France, where his career has continued to flourish. He received a directing Oscar in absentia for the 2002 movie "The Pianist." He was not extradited from France because his crime reportedly was not covered under US treaties with the country.
A native of France, Polanski was taken to Poland by his parents. He escaped Krakow's Jewish ghetto as a child and lived off the charity of strangers. His mother died at the Auschwitz Nazi death camp.
Alcohol and drugs
He worked his way into filmmaking in Poland, gaining an Oscar nomination for best foreign-language film in 1964 for his "Knife in the Water." Offered entry to Hollywood, he directed the classic "Rosemary's Baby" in 1968.
In 1969 his pregnant wife, actress Sharon Tate, and four other people were gruesomely murdered by followers of Charles Manson.
In 1977, he was accused of raping the teenager while photographing her during a modeling session. The girl said Polanski plied her with champagne and a drug. She said, despite her protests, he performed oral sex, intercourse and sodomy on her.
Polanski pleaded guilty to one of six charges, unlawful sexual intercourse, and was sent to prison for 42 days of evaluation.
Lawyers agreed that would be his full sentence, but the judge tried to renege on the plea bargain so Polanski fled to France.
The victim, Samantha Geimer, has joined in Polanski's bid for dismissal, saying she wants the case to be over. She sued Polanski and reached an undisclosed settlement.
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