French Director Roman Polanski was taken into custody at the Zurich airport by Swiss authorities, Swiss police confirmed Sunday, Sept. 27, 2009 on a 1978 U.S. arrest warrant for having sex with a 13-year-old girl. Polanski faces high-profile extradition process that could take weeks or months.
[From HuffingtonPost] Polanski’s arrest as he arrived Saturday in Switzerland for a film festival honor could potentially spur on his legal team’s recent motion to dismiss charges that have dogged him since he fled the U.S. for France in 1978, a year after pleading guilty to unlawful sexual intercourse with a 13-year-old girl.
But it could also elevate his case into an international ordeal – involving the governments of Switzerland, France, Poland and the United States – and potentially complicate his possible extradition.
“The big issue is whether it would have been better for him to negotiate a surrender when he had the chance,” Loyola University law professor Laurie Levenson said. “Now it has become an international incident and the district attorney may be under pressure not to negotiate a sweetheart deal. They’ve gone to all this trouble of getting Switzerland involved. It could make it harder on him.”
Nevertheless, some believe the arrest of the 76-year-old Academy Award winner could lead to a resolution that will allow him to once again travel freely.
“I think he will finally get his day in court,” criminal defense attorney Steve Cron said, “and there’s a good chance his case will be dismissed or the sentence will be commuted to time served.”
Meanwhile, Poland and France intend to make a joint appeal to Switzerland and the United States to have Polanski released from his detention, Polish Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski told the Polish news agency PAP. Sikorski said he and French counterpart Bernard Kouchner also plan to ask Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to offer Polanski clemency.
“The good news for him is he’s been living under a cloud all these years wondering who would swoop in and arrest him,” Cron said. “Now he can get this thing finally worked out.”
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