Roman Polanski Arrested in Switzerland

Wow- the Swiss finally decide to take some non-neutral actions in the world and they nab Polanski? Who's next Al Capone?

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All due respect to his great achievements in cinema, and tragedies and other pains he has endured, I think he honestly has to pay for what he did. Yes, one reason he escaped U.S. was because he had unfair trial. After all, he did rape an underage girl.

Would this matter still be controversial if he wasn't a famed director?

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"You might wind up asking yourself: 'But was it consensual?' And if it's consensual, does that really make a difference when you're talking about a girl that young?"

WTF?? 13 was (and still is) under the age of consent in California. That means the person is not of age to consent, that's why it's called statutory rape.

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Regardless of or if it was "consensual" he was convicted even it the judge was a media preener. Just because he managed to get away with it for so many years does not justify him getting off of the conviction.If this had happened in this day and age he would have been ruined and mobbed hanged.The girl was just 13, no girl gives consensual consent at that age, not now and certainly not then. He's done a nice job trying to paint the US as a big old prudish meanie, where as the European elite see him as a victim and are more enlightened about sex supposedly. A bunch of garbage. And the only reason I think the woman has now backed off is because no one bothered to defend her, and catch this guy for so many years, letting him get away with it and basically saying too bad at her. Poor woman just wants it to end anyway it can. I hope he goes either to jail or at most gets a new trial.

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Good for you Switzerland. Next stop USA then justice can be seen to be done :)

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I think another issue is that he fled the country. It would set a dangerous precedent if the US let him off the hook saying, "Well good job, you successfully fled the country and we didn't catch you. All your crimes are absolved, please come back as if nothing happened."

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Nobody can actually know for certain if he did it or if her parents created the big problem.

Just wanted to remember that his pregnant wife, was killed by one of the american mass murderer Manson, and all this story must have more underlines than lines...

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He drugged, raped and sodomized a 13 year old girl. I don't care how good your movies are you if you do that you are a subhuman scumbag who needs to be jailed. His wife being killed is no excuse. The man should spend the rest of his miserable life in jail and all these idiots who think he should be given a free pass just because he's a "great director" should have had morals beaten into them when they were kids. This crap makes me sick.

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I feel bad for the girl, shouldn't the parents be jailed too? If I ever had a 13 year old girl, the last place you would see her is at Jack Nicholson' s apartment for a photo shoot, you can bet on it.

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#1- the girl was not some little kid plucked off the street. She was a party girl passing herself off as a 25 year old. Polanski did not know she was a minor.

#2- He already agreed to plead guilty and served two months in prison in a deal to avoid further jail time. Then the judge decided Polanski was too famous to get off so easy and reneged on the plea arrangement he'd made with the lawyers, prompting Polanski to flee the country feeling he was being framed.

#3- The 'girl' is now a married mother aged 45 and has not only asked for the charges to be dropped but has already received a settlement and money from Polanski in a long ago ended civil case.

#4- With all of the other true crimes out there in the world, that this bs is what the US, Media and Swiss decide to focus on is just sad sad sad.

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What deal with the devil have the Swiss made? Anyone who knows this case knows that the publicity seeking, ego maniacal, judge (who was also known as an incompetent boob) acted improperly, lied and then reneged on a legal agreement (if someone had done that with him, he would have thrown the book at the them). The girl involved in the case (now a woman in her forties) has forever maintained that the press coverage is far more embarrassing than the incident itself and has always wanted the case quietly dismissed against Polanski. But since the Christian Taliban have effectively taken the bulk of the US courts, perceived morals transgressions (even cases over thirty years old) demand that the "evil ones" be burned at the stake, or the next best thing that is allowable under the law.
Anyone who's paid attention to the idiocy and nonsense in the US the past number of years is not too surprised by these hysterical witch hunts (though this case makes even the most cynical critic drop his jaw in disbelief) but for the comparatively free and level-headed Swiss to be aiding and abetting in this absurd idiocy makes one wonder what ugly backdoor deal the Swiss authorities have made and for what reason. Perhaps it has something to do with the demand from the current US administration for the Swiss government to release confidential bank information on private customers, a violation even the Swiss government doesn't demand of its banks. The excuse that the US is looking for "tax evaders" rings quite false, unless the authorities view not getting their payoffs as the gravest of crimes, considering criminals of all ilk have forever used off shore banking to hide the most heinously obtained funds. Regardless of the "justification" it's just more of the US' empire building.
Where are all the previous administration's critics? I was no fan of the war mongering and other crimes committed then and have seen no reason to suddenly view the new administration's continuation and expansion of those same crimes as suddenly okay. Partisanship is such an obscene joke, the gullible public falls for the ruse while the criminal empire continues to expand.

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Yeah, what's consensual about a 13 year old on quaaludes and champagne?

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"cubitfox said...That's exactly what he meant. Whether it was rape or not, it was still illegal. That went way over your head."

Nope, it didn't go over my head. When a person is under the age of consent (as this 13 year-old was), the law says they are UNABLE to give consent. So there is no way to question "was it consensual?"

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