Hypocrisy is common. But Switzerland is a special case

[fpb]

I never did like the land of banks and... banks; tell me whether I have no reason. Everyone knows that Roman Polanski's conviction for child sex in 1978 was a scandal, arranged by a publicity-hungry, corrupt judge who connived with the prosecution in defiance of all law. Not that Polanski was an angel, but even prosecution lawyers have since admitted that the trial was what Bob Dylan would have called a "pig-circus", and that a much more lenient sentence would have been just. So when Polanski fled to France, the US authorities did not make any real effort to have him extradited. Everyone concerned with the trial was ashamed. Now, thirty-one years after the show-trial, the Swiss authorities, for reasons best known to themselves, have entrapped Polanski into visiting Switzerland for a cinema festival and arrested him on the 31-year-old warrant. I am no fan of men who have sex with minors, but this stinks. The Swiss would do better to arrest their own villains, like the filth who murders for hire in the so-called Dignity clinic. And let's not even get on their banking business.

Comments

[affablestranger.livejournal.com]

I just read about this goings on with Polanski and the Swiss, and I was shocked. I do not at all understand why the US authorities are still pushing this case so, considering all that is known and has been admitted about it in the interim 31 years. All I could say was, "WTF?"

[mindstalk.livejournal.com]

"have sex with minors" -> "confessed to drugging and raping a 13 year old girl but fled the country before sentencing"

edit: I see he only confessed to "unlawful sex with a minor"; that he gave her quaaludes and champagne and raped her was her testimony.

[inverarity.livejournal.com]

1. I fail to see how the hypocrisy of the Swiss is relevant. Okay, let's say they're the most evil, hypocritical country on Earth. How does that change the question of whether or not Polanski deserves to be delivered to justice? I suppose it might be more satisfying if a country you despise less was the one to do it, but saying that it's wrong for Polanski to be extradited by the Swiss is like saying it's wrong for a rapist to be arrested by a corrupt cop. The cop may be corrupt, but that has nothing to do with whether or not the rapist is guilty.

2. My understanding of the case is that the Swiss didn't just suddenly decide they wanted to extradite him after leaving him alone all these years. The U.S. actually found out what Polanski's flight plan was and delivered it to the Swiss authorities. This time, unlike previous occasions, for the Swiss not to arrest Polanski, they'd have had to deliberately ignore the extradition treaty with the U.S. It's certainly true that they've never lifted a finger to go after him before, but it's the difference between a cop whistling and looking the other way when no one else is around, and having someone with a videocamera pointing at him and saying, "Look! There he is!" They didn't really have much choice, unless they were willing to face down an angry U.S. State Department over Polanski.

3. Just in case you're unaware, this rape of a thirteen-year-old girl was straight up rape, not "just" statutory rape. (The court documents are online if you Google for them.) There was nothing even a little bit ambiguous about it (even if you are one of those sick people -- and I don't think you are -- who believes that the rape of a thirteen-year-old girl can be in any way "ambiguous.") Polanski is a pedophile rapist who used his wealth and privilege to get away with it and then flee justice. I don't care if North Korea was the one to extradite him -- he deserves to face justice.

4. Yes, his victim has long since moved on and wants the case to go away. I understand why she feels that way, and I don't blame her, but while victims' voices are important, they alone do not decide the course of justice. Justice serves society, not just the victim, and criminals don't get acquitted just because their victims, for whatever reason, don't want them convicted.

[mindstalk.livejournal.com]

A prosecutor now says he lied about consulting unethically with the judge.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/09/30/pivotal-player-in-polansk_n_305772.html

that a much more lenient sentence would have been just

More lenient than what? He wasn't sentenced. The only 'sentence' around is 90 days, which I think was actually a pre-sentencing psychological evaluation... and you think 90 days is sufficent punishment for sleeping with a 13 year old? Not to mention drugging and raping someone? What's appropriate for rape, a week? A fine?