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-Lurid Crime Tales-
Polanski free, Swiss reject US extradition request
2010-07-12
The Swiss government declared renowned film director Roman Polanski a free man on Monday after rejecting a U.S. request to extradite him on a charge of having sex in 1977 with a 13-year-old girl.
Junior nookie is okay as long as you're in the intellectual club.
Had it been Swiss junior nookie they might have looked at things differently...
Don't count on it, it's the same people and same mentality as Laficornia ...
The Swiss mostly blamed U.S. authorities for failing to provide confidential testimony about Polanski's sentencing procedure in 1977-1978.
Whether or not he boned the child was beside the point...
The stunning decision could end the United States' three-decade pursuit of Polanski, unless he travels to another country that would be willing to apprehend him and weigh sending him to Los Angeles. France, where he has spent much of his time, does not extradite its own citizens, and the public scrutiny over Switzerland's deliberations may dissuade other nations from making such a spectacular arrest.
The weeping and gnashing of teeth of Polanski's intellectual and moral peers would also be pretty off-putting...
The Swiss government said it had sought confidential testimony given on Jan. 26 by Roger Gunson, the Los Angeles attorney in charge of the original prosecution against Polanski. Washington rejected the request. "Mr. Polanski can now move freely. Since 12:30 today he's a free man," Justice Minister Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf declared.

Authorities in Los Angeles and Washington cannot appeal the Swiss decision. Sandy Gibbons, a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office, declined to comment.
Posted by:Fred

#5  This is just the guy for the FBI to lure onto an American flagged boat that sails just far enough from the Rivera to get to International waters.

Arrest him there and send him back to California special delivery via the US Navy.
Posted by: rammer   2010-07-12 22:17  

#4  You don't make such a point by allowing a disgusting convicted pedophile like Polanski walk free. That sends exactly the wrong message - that you have no respect for the rule of law _or_ the basic decency.

My bet is that the Obama administration quashed the extradition by having the testimony omitted. To appease his Hollywood friends.

He's already shown that he has absolutely no respect for the rule of law.
Posted by: CrazyFool   2010-07-12 15:05  

#3  There's another angle to this.

During the Swiss hostage crisis the Obama administration was very unhelpful.

The Libyans threatened to storm the Swiss Embassy to regain custody of their Swiss hostage. The US did not intervene diplomatically in spite of the fact that the Swiss government, acting through its Embassy in Tehran, serves as protecting power for US. interests in Iran. Thus the US government should be interested in the protection of Swiss Embassies in Islamic countries as stipulated by international law.

Gaddafi openly called for Jihad against Switzerland, i.e. he declared his intent to sponsor terrorist attacks on Switzerland.

A State Department offical mocked Gaddafi but did not explicitly condemn Libya.

Gaddafi demanded an apology for this mockery, and , no surprise, he got it. (My guess is that the apology was ordered by Obama personally.)

That was an implicit endorsement of terrorism against Western Europe sponsored by Libya. Certainly Gaddafi understood it that way.

Polanski is a disgusting creep and he should pay for his crime. But the Swiss have ample reason to tell the Obama administration to go pound sand.
Posted by: Chiling Poodle4872   2010-07-12 14:34  

#2  Washington rejected the request.

In other words, Barry thinks it's OK.
Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305   2010-07-12 13:17  

#1  THIS IS DISGUSTING!

The Swiss did what they had to do because of a critical defect in the extradition request -- i.e., the lack of testimony regarding the sentencing procedure. IT WAS WASHINGTON that refused to provide the testimony -- likely knowing it would result in the extradition request being rejected.

So, now the feds (no doubt at the urging of the likes of Oprah, etc.) can pretend to lament Switzerland's decision, while achieving what this administration wanted all along -- get rid of an extradition request they wished was never presented in the first place.

This administration is an abomination.
Posted by: Herb Sherens7710   2010-07-12 12:28  

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