Roman Polanski has decided to speak out about his detainment of his house-arrest at his multi-million-dollar house Swiss ski chalet. In an open letter to his friend, French philosopher Bernard Henri-Levy titled “I cannot keep quiet” – that was published in French and Swiss newspapers – Polanski lays out what he sees as the wrongs done to him. He claims he’s “not going to try to ask you to pity my lot in life” and then continues to lay out why one more day confined to his luxurious ski chalet would be the greatest legal travesty ever. Yes, it’s all quite ridiculous:
Filmmaker Roman Polanski, breaking a months-long silence, said Sunday that the U.S. is demanding his extradition from Switzerland on a 33-year-old sex case largely to serve him “on a platter to the media.”
Polanski, who is under house arrest in his Alpine Swiss chalet, laid out his case against extradition on an online magazine run by one of his staunchest supporters, French philosopher Bernard-Henri Levy.
“I have had my share of dramas and joys, as we all have, and I am not going to try to ask you to pity my lot in life,” he wrote. “I ask only to be treated fairly like anyone else.”
Polanski suggests the case against him is unjust and riddled with problems. Each argument begins with the phrase: “I can remain silent no longer.”
One of Polanski’s complaints is that Los Angeles County District Attorney Steve Cooley, “who is handling this case and has requested (the) extradition, is himself campaigning for election and needs media publicity!” Cooley is running for California attorney general.
The district attorney’s spokeswoman Sandi Gibbons said the office “will withhold comment until the Swiss make a decision on his fugitive status.”
Swiss authorities are trying to decide whether to extradite Polanski to Los Angeles for having sex in 1977 with a 13-year-old girl. Polanski was arrested seven months ago as he arrived in Zurich to receive a lifetime achievement award at a film festival.
The Oscar-winning director of “Rosemary’s Baby,” “Chinatown” and “The Pianist” was put behind bars for more than two months before being transferred on $4.5 million bail to house arrest in the luxury resort of Gstaad. Polanski wrote in the online magazine, La Regle du Jeu, that he had mortgaged his apartment to pay the bail.
Three decades ago, Polanski was accused of plying his victim with champagne and part of a Quaalude during a modeling shoot and raping her. He was initially indicted on six felony counts, including rape by use of drugs, child molesting and sodomy. He later pleaded guilty to one count of unlawful sexual intercourse.
What happened after that is a subject of dispute. The defense says the now deceased judge, Laurence J. Rittenband, had agreed in meetings with attorneys to sentence Polanski to a 90-day diagnostic study and nothing more. But the judge later changed his mind and summoned Polanski for further sentencing – at which time he fled to his native France, attorneys said.
Polanski claimed the judge “betrayed” him and wanted “to gain himself some publicity at my expense.” He said the request for his extradition is “founded on a lie.”
Polanski said retired Deputy District Attorney Roger Gunson, who worked on the case three decades ago, has confirmed his take on events under oath. The director’s lawyers have argued that unsealing transcripts of Gunson’s secret testimony would show the extradition request is based on false and incomplete statements by the Los Angeles district attorney’s office.
Polanski added: “I can no longer remain silent because the United States continues to demand my extradition more to serve me on a platter to the media of the world than to pronounce a judgment concerning which an agreement was reached 33 years ago.”
The filmmaker has kept largely silent under house arrest. In December, he released a message thanking his supporters for their letters.
[From Huffington Post]
Look, I know I’m going to make Polanski’s harshest critics angry, but there was and is something wrong with the way Polanski’s case was handled. I could conceivably buy that the California prosecutor was trying to get a big fish, and that certain people in the justice system throughout the case were trying to use Polanski because he was a big fish. That being said, Polanski should be extradited and should deal with all of this head-on, in America. The crux of Polanski’s argument seems to be that he will not be treated fairly if he is extradited, when the history of this case shows that he’s consistently gotten special treatment. Plus, I’m not sure if “sanctimonious” is the reaction I would go for if appealing to the general public. Polanski is a big fail.
I hate the article you quoted. They say he was arreseted for “having sex with a 13 year old” like it’s normal or consensual. You read several paragraphs before you see it was RAPE and SODOMY with use of DRUGS. This is disgusting. In truth, an average citizen would have gotten a much harsher sentence- I am flabberghasted at his claim that he was somehow treated harsher than normal!!! What a predator, and what a legal failure.
Wah Wah Wah. I raped a little girl. Poor me. Now I *might* have to pay for it after running from the law. A bloo, bloo, bloo.
Pity the poor rapist. Pity him. He’s only lived a better life than 99% of humans after committing child rape. Yeah. Poor guy. Single tear down my cheek and all.
The biggest mistake they made in handling this case was letting him go free to await sentencing. Bottom line, he raped a 13 year old girl. I don’t care how famous or rich he is or whether he is a “genius”. He is a child rapist and belongs in prison. If that were my child, I’d be in a French prison for murder right now. People who line up to defend him make me sick. I’d like to see them if someone raped their kid!
Without trying to minimize the very real danger and lifelong consequences of rape, the victim herself has repeatedly asked for this case to be dropped in the last years. Shouldn’t her wishes be respected?
I hope he goes to jail. I read a full account somewhere when this became an issue again and what he did to that child is unspeakably awful. And her parents were really neglectful as they left her with Polanski in Jack Nicholson’s hottub. I don’t want to think of the weird things that have, over time, occurred in Jack Nicholson’s hottub.
The man has received nothing but SPECIAL treatment…He stuck his nose up to our legal system for the last 30 plus years… Grow up and accept your fate… You tried to use your influence and money to get yourself a sweetheart deal all those years ago, who knows maybe the Judge had a change of heart and saw you for the pedophile you really are and decided you were too dangerous to be free… And the fact that Polanski shows absolutely NO remorse for his actions and continues to try and play the VICTIM in this, I think shows that he has no conscience… I hope the book is thrown at this pig.. It is about time someone stood up to the powers in Hwood by bringing this criminal to his knees.
I’m glad that Christopher Hitchens and Bill Maher had the guts to publicly condemn this pedophile. I will boycott the movies of the celebrities who signed the pro-polanski petition. how anyone could excuse his rape of a 13 year old because he is an “artist” is beyond me.
He’s mad because his people paid off/bribed the judge, who in turn had a battle with his conscience. His conscience won. (purely speculation) And, because Polanski is such an entitled ass, he can only focus on the judge’s betrayal, not his own sick malfeasance.
@ cinekat: You are right. The victim has asked that the case be dropped. She also settled a civil suit with him and that is her right… But the reason this case is pursued is because he fled when he found out he was going to have to serve time in an actual prison not some posh hospital… If Polanski had served his time all those years ago, the victim would not have to go through this again…
So does this mean that those Priests in the Catholic Church that raped those boys should never receive punishment, since it was so long ago? Or what about that pedophile that lives in your neighborhood and watches your kids playing in the street. As long as he molested kids YEARS ago or is an old man in his 70’s then it’s okay to have him as your neighbor?
If you answered no then the answer to Polanski is the same. He’s a dirty old man who likes little girls. I doubt he’s changed, there’s just no way anyone will ever say anything.
I have not commented on this story up until now, but I think he is getting railroaded. I don’t blame him in the slightest for not returning voluntarily to this country. The only way to deal with this is to open up the sealed testimony of Gunson’s before the Swiss rule on his extradition. If the testimony backs up his story, then the matter should be over. The idea that the current DA is using this issue to advance his career and is harassing the former victim in the process is unconscionable.
I agree with you, Kaiser, that his case was mishandled.
@cinecat I’ve thought about this too, but that’s just not how the system works. The state can choose to prosecute regardless of the victim’s wishes. The facts are that he raped a little girl, and despite his celebrity, he shouldn’t be allowed to walk free, regardless of what issues the victim takes with the process.
This is important, because rape cases are so hard to bring to trial. People seem to think that rape convictions fill up our courtrooms, but that is just false. Many times, victims are too confused/scared/ashamed to come forward, or even get a rape kit (which can be invasive in itself after that sort of ordeal). Those who do come forward have to deal with sitting in a small room with their rapist and having the defense attorney basically calling the victim a whore on the stand.
This is important, because no matter what the victim of this crime thinks, every rape conviction can help women across this country and make us safer.
He drugged, raped and sodomized a 13 year old girl; he should go to jail.
To all the celebrities/supporters who are defending him on technicalities or because of his ‘artistic contributions’,what if that 13 year old was your daughter, sister, niece etc.? You wouldn’t be so quick to blithely defend him then.
This piece of shit belongs in jail.
I too believe he is a pedophile crying the blues and I wish him to be jailed for the rest of his life. And for the celebrities who condone what he did and request him to come back to the USA as a free man because he is an ‘artist’ – They are no better than him. Anyone else who feels he should be free and forgiven maybe they are pedophiles as well. Who else would try to justify that behavior to children?
@ cinekat:
Without trying to minimize the very real danger and lifelong consequences of rape, the victim herself has repeatedly asked for this case to be dropped in the last years. Shouldn’t her wishes be respected?
No. He fled the law which is a federal crime.
And the reason the victim wants this to go away is that Polanski’s supporters blame her for being raped every time this is brought up.
A year after he fled the States, Polanski had this to say in an interview (as quoted in the UK Telegraph):
“If I had killed somebody, it wouldn’t have had so much appeal to the press, you see? But… f—ing, you see, and the young girls. Judges want to f— young girls. Juries want to f— young girls. Everyone wants to f— young girls!”
Again go back to what I said earlier… The man shows no remorse or conscience for his actions…
How can he be “railroaded” and treated unfairly when 30 yrs ago he was allowed to plea down to “sex with a minor” instead of rape, an option that surely would not have been extended to an average person.
He has no right to argue about his case being mishandled, because he didn’t point this out 33 yrs ago when he agreed, in court, to a plea bargain and it was transcribed that he UNDERSTOOD the judge could change the sentence at any time. Please read the transcripts on the smoking gun if at all possible…I guarantee you won’t feel sorry for him anymore.
Unlike the vast majority of defendants, Roman Polanski had and still has the means to properly defend himself against the crimes he stands accused of. In fact he was on fast track for being under punished when the incident took place. What he do? He flaunted his blatant disregard for the law by jumping on the first thing smoking to Europe. Polanski, like countless other spoiled and overindulged celebrities, firmly believed that the law did and still does not apply to him. When you flee a crime or courtroom to escape punishment, generally the punishment is harsher and as it should be!!!
I work directly w/ abused children and can more than vouch for the sad reality that I have lost track of the number of physically and sexually abused children who have cried out for the very same parents/adults who abused them. A 13 year old under the best of circumstances, is not in a position to make the kind of judgment needed for consent to sexual activity. A 13 year old under the influence of drugs plied by an adult is REALLY not in a position to make this decision. In fact, if you drug a woman under the same circumstances, it is called date rape.
Polanski took advantage of a young girl’s dream of being famous. He probably lured her w/ dreams of Hollywood stardom and her name in bright lights. Polanski, a man who could easily seduce almost any adult female of consensual age, instead chose to ply a 13 year old CHILD w/ drugs and alcohol, as if to eliminate any chance of her ability to fight back. He then proceeded to anally rape this same child while she lay either unconscious or semi conscious. The fact that this may represent the norm in Hollywood DOES NOT make it any less a crime. Send his whiny ass back to face his crimes!!!
@stinabelle: Well said.
I can see why the victim wants this to go away; it’s because every time this story is brought up, I’m sure she has to relive the feelings of being raped and seeing the man who committed the crime skirt free from responsibility because he made a few good movies.
But a message needs to be sent out to all the young girls and women that there are consequences in America for rapists/pedophiles no matter how much influence or money the man may have.
Btw, go to dlisted for a longer snip of his rant. It’s even more disgusting when you hear him go on and on and on about how he’s been wronged. Gah! I almost want him to escape again so that he’ll lose that bail money and whatever apartment he put in collateral. From his complaining he seems to care very much about where he lives. At least hit him where it hurts.
totally agree with you in this article
Not one ounce of sympathy from me. Whatever happened with the case, even if it was badly handled, he got off easy to begin with, and then committed a whole second crime by fleeing the country. No excuses.
I have sympathy for the victim, having all this brought up again, but that’s Polanski’s fault, not the prosecution’s, who are only doing their job. Had he served his time back then instead of running off to happily live in France for 3 decades, it would have been over and one with ages ago.
Somewhere, in one of the reports on California court findings on this case in the past year, it was noted, “there may be prosecutorial mis-conduct in this case.” However, the CA courts stated this is a separate issue from Polanski’s admission of guilt, and his flee to avoid sentencing, and he must return to California.
I think the victim, Geimer, is more intent on having the charges dropped because she has been pursued by the media and wants to save her children from the publicity.
Roman is a, “whiner.” I did it, they all do it, I shouldn’t be held to a different standard.
He’s had 33 years to step up and take responsibility, instead, plays the role of victim, embarrassing his family and incurring major expense.
Sex with a 13 year old girl can never be consensual (adding the alcohol and drugs makes it even more disgustingly outrageous!). The victim does not have a say in whether the legal process is played out and Polanski serves his sentence. If that was the way the system worked, rich people would commit crimes and always pay people off to keep them from their deserved punishment. That is not and never will be the way the court system works in America.
Polanski makes me sick and I will also boycott all of him films and those of his supporters!
He needs to SHUT THE FUCK UP. He might have made ‘amends’ (BARF) with the victim, but NOT WITH THE UNITED STATES JUSTICE SYSTEM.
What the hell kind of public policy is it to allow pedophiles to pay off a victim in exchange for getting off scot-free? ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! Give the victim whatever you want, but don’t pretend that after that, you’re good.
Good for the US authorities continuing to demand extradition (which needs to happen ASAP). The justice that I went to law school to uphold is NOT a fucking barter system.
GOD.
And with that, I must now go into my Copyrights exam. Yay.
Hey Jaquebelle?
Will you marry me?
Seriously, what you said. That’s the definition of nail on the head.
Thank you Marta, Jaquebelle, padiddle, KrissyKitty, and others for making great points.
I’m sick of people making it sound like he just had sex with her and it was a long time ago, so *shrug.*
I’ve read a lot on this case and I honestly can’t abide the arguments in favor of Polanski. They aren’t even LOGICAL legal arguments. He’s a rapist and coward who believes he’s above the law. Period.
It’s astounding that this rapist who thinks everyone secretly wants to “f*ck young girls” is even alive, let alone thumbing his nose at the entire world over this.
A friend of mine and I were talking about this yesterday. He seem sconvinced that Polanski will NEVER be extridited back to the US. He thinks that he will eventually be able to go back to France and will continue to travel, but ONLY to countries that are diplomatically at odds with the US. Hmmm…we shall see.
Boohoo, Roman Polanski isn’t being treated ‘fairly’. Last time I checked, he’s been on the run from the law for decades. If he were truly being treated fairly, he would be behind bars and not in a Swiss Chalet. Be careful what you wish for, you just might get it.
Give the guy a break his pregnant wife got maliciously slaughtered at his house I think this little thirteen yr old was a willing participant and if she wasnt shes forgiven him so lay off hes suffered in his life OJ was freely walking around for years and in all honesty any idiot with half a brain knew OJ murdered his wife.. I feel sorry for Roman the US is gna attempt to make an example out of him to show the rest of the world how fantastic they are. SHAME.
Whether or not he SHOULD go to jail for rape of a minor is irrelevant. As happens in many cases, the victim would not come forward to testify and so the case was plea bargained to a lesser offense. He is “only” guilty of unlawful sexual conduct and that is what he should be sentenced for, just like in every other case where the defendant pleads guilty to a lesser charge.
There are two questions here, I think. Was Polanski given a lighter sentence than any other first time offender convicted of the same crime? And was there misconduct in ignoring the plea bargain already set in place?
That said, I think he should be extradited to let his lawyers handle the mess once and for all.
I think what happened was disgusting, but i also believe the victims wishes should be respected as she is being put through the wringer again. and how frightening do you think that must be to other victims. they’ve made their peace and moved on and now they have to relive it. and her children are now learning of it.
also if there is prosecutoreal misconduct then the entire thing needs to be thrown out. however i do believe unsealing those records would bring out everything in that case and a more informed decision could be mad.e whether or not he was/is to be under-sentenced, that decision seems to have been made a long time ago and that’s the one that should stand.
I think him and Woody Allan should be fried together in public as a reminder to all childmolesters and perverts!
let’s give him the lifetime award for being the biggest scumbag in history!
I boycott his and Woody Allen films as they are both pervs. If Polanski was truly sorry and accountable for what he did, he would’ve stayed in the U.S. and faced the music decades ago. That he won’t be accountable tells me he still is in denial and therefore at risk of doing it again, if he hasn’t already to his kids or their young friends. The adult victim has been paid off, what message does it send to her kids that not justice and only money should prevail in this case. She sounds like she’s still messed in the head about it too. Doesn’t matter how many years pass, rape is rape and her underreaction tells me she is still being bribed.
A couple of things..
Jacquebelle, you post was very thoughtful until: “This may represent the norm in hollywood” if you think this is true, you are patently wrong. Do not lump all of the decent people who work to create the entertainment you enjoy every night into this category. These sort of generalizations make me angry no matter who they are attacking.
Polanski needs to man up and accept resonsibility for what he did. I don’t care what kind of genius you are. You broke the laws of this country and you were proescuted and convicted. You, Mr Polanski are disgrace and failure as a man and a human being for doing this. MAN UP.
Rot you child rapist! he is scum! and he is unintelligent to boot because he just sealed his fate with the LA DA by bagging on him! DUH!
Serve your time you pretentious rapist piece of crap!
canadian chic- AMEN! I do the same. Why protect child molesters? because they are famous??!! That is sick and anyone who stars in either of these 2 mens movies condones their actions! They should both be locked up.
The only one that was betrayed was the 13 year old victim.
And then there’s her mother. Her actions beggar belief. Where’s Karma when you need it?
lyn234, I read it on Perez’s site. It was sickening. Hit him where it hurts is right. Put this POS in jail where he belongs. I also am done with H’wood individuals who support this piece of puke.
they need to throw him under the jail..i think i was watching A&E or THS on E! and they were saying how it was basically a normal thing for him to engage in such activities with YOUNG girls..telling them he wanted to put them in movies and plying them with drugs and taking advantage of them..who knows how many unnamed victims there are..anyone know how we can find out who signed the petition for him?
The judge changed his mind because he was shown photos of Polanski cavorting with underage girls after he was released from the psych evaluation. He considered him dangerous…and who can disagree?
What movie did he make immediately after his flight to France? TESS, starring Nastajsa Kinsky, approximate age at the time: 15. I say approx because she is known to have lied about her age (to be older) in order to get modeling work.
Rhe guy is scum and I hope he dies in jail.
Sorry, meant to post he had a well known sexual relationship with Kinsky. Then she presumably got too old for him.
I never understood why Europe (especially France) had to defend this criminal. He did it and ran away. No matter who he is, he needs to serve the sentences. He tries to hide behind the identity of artist but being a artist doesn’t bring you immunity.
I always thought he is an overrated director anyway.
He says “I ask only to be treated fairly like anyone else.”
You fucking stupid dick, if you were a normal person, you’d already have been back in the states with the media SO far up your ass…
But no, because he’s a “brilliant director”, he gets special treatment and house arrest. And he somehow thinks he’s being treated poorly?
I can’t wait until he’s back here in the states. We will rip him a new one.
@jaquebelle: Your post made me cry.
This is why we cannot ‘forgive’ Polanski his crime. It doesn’t matter what the victim cries after the damage is done – the perpetrator must be punished and so held as an example that this is NOT how to treat OUR children, no matter how inattentive her actual mother was. The law stands in the place of her outraged mother (more’s the pity).
This case was not mishandled, they weren’t trying to get a big fish, they were trying to get a CHILD RAPIST. Who just happened to be a celebrity.
The fact that you are agreeing with him, even a little, is disgusting. They were trying to get a rapist, not a celebrity. If that was your daughter, Kaiser, I doubt you’d feel the same way. You should be ashamed of yourself for even agreeing/defending a child rapist, however little you did.
Ugh. Ridiculous.
Polanski does not want anyone to feel sorry for his “lot in life”? Good one, as I bet most people don’t – I mean if an average citizen was charged with the rape of a thirteen-year-old, most would not be able to plea it down to sexual misconduct, and then run to another country for thirty plus years, while living in the open, to avoid facing any charges. Polanski, talented director that he is, continues to perpetuate the make-believe world that is his reality, meanwhile average citizens have to actually deal with reality. He needs to be extradited back to the US for a new trial – and it IS sad that it will be very difficult for the victim. American justice for all citizens is eroded when money and power are continually allowed to be used by a select few as an excuse for committing crimes and getting away with only a slap on the wrist and/or the freedom to live abroad and continue about with such a hard lot in life.
Whatever you think of him, whatever you think of the victim, whatever you think should be done, a serious precedent could be set here if he is allowed to remain free.
Such a precedent could be brought up in cases following this, where fugitives have remained on the loose for x number of years. These fugitives might not have victims so willing to just “drop it”. Do we simply say “well, it’s been this long; it’s all G” and sacrifice the letter of the law and any current and future victims simply because of time?
There’s a reason why there are no statute of limitations once charges have been filed: to prevent this very thing from happening.
Humbert Humbert > Roman Polanski