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

[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.

[mindstalk.livejournal.com]

As for the reasons for arresting him:

The arrest followed a request by the United States that Switzerland apprehend Polanski. U.S. investigators had learned of his planned trip several days earlier, which had given them enough time to negotiate with Swiss authorities and lay the groundwork for an arrest. The United States had been seeking his arrest and extradition worldwide since 2005. While there had been a U.S. arrest warrant for him since 1978 and he had been on the Interpol "red notice" wanted list for several years,[58] an international arrest warrant was issued in 2005.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Polanski#Sex_crime_conviction

[fpb.livejournal.com]

Shit. Polanski LIVES in Switzerland. The warrant has been out for 32 years. If you think that he has just now become guiltier than he has been for 32 years, you must be living on the Moon.

[mindstalk.livejournal.com]

Eh? He lives in France by all I see. You yourself said "when he visited Switzerland". And the *international* warrant has been out for 4 years, by what I quoted.

And yes, she doesn't want the attention of another trial, but the law often doesn't do what a victim wants, once it has evidence. It's not just about her, it's about punishing people for raping 13 year old girls. Even the rich and popular can't always escape.

Why are you defending a rapist?

[fpb.livejournal.com]

Because the reek of hypocrisy offends me. Polanski owns a second home in Gstaad, Switzerland. As for deciding after 32 years that now was the time, it only adds to my inborn contempt for treacherous, murderous Swiss. These people murder others for money (google "dignity clinic, Zurich" if you want to know) and grow fat on illegal money, but when they find it convenient, suddenly a crime that took place 33 years ago is important to them. As for the US warrant, as soon as we find out who is going to do the prosecuting, we shall know which hypocritical DA in search of media inches and votes has resurrected an ancient prosecution rather than bothering with contemporary issues.

[mindstalk.livejournal.com]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090927/ap_on_en_mo/eu_switzerland_polanski

Previous attempts to nab Polanski when he left France were thwarted because authorities didn't learn of his travel soon enough — or Polanski didn't make the trip, said William Sorukas, chief of the U.S. Marshals Service's domestic investigations branch.

"This is not the first time we have done this over the years," said Sandi Gibbons, spokeswoman for the Los Angeles County District Attorney's office. She said warrants had been sent out whenever rumors circulated that he would be traveling to a country outside France.

As for Gstaad vs. Zurich:
http://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/front.html?siteSect=105&ty=st&ref=fb&sid=11287917

I'm not sure why hypocrisy trumps justice for rape and fleeing.

[fpb.livejournal.com]

Hypocrisy with respect to murder for gain, as well as on growing fat on the proceeds of international crime, tyranny, mafia and tax evasion, certainly does. That is what holds Switzerland up, and this sudden discovery of virtue with respect to one individual who, as compared with their usual business partners, is practically snow white, is about as convincing as an Ahmedinajad speech. If you insist that any stick is good enough to beat Polanski with, you will find that some sticks wound the hand that weld them. And if you believe the tale from the US Marshall service, I've got a couple of nice bridges to sell you.

[fpb.livejournal.com]

Get it through your head that the hands of Switzerland drip with Italian blood. That is where the Mafia places the money it has made at our expense. That the Swiss authorities, who have been covering up for professional criminals and murderous tyrants for centuries, should suddenly discover the beauty of law enforcement in this one case - there is no word to describe just how credible it is NOT.

A few months after

[fpb.livejournal.com]

The American side have preferred - after months of worldwide publicity - to let Polansky go free rather than reveal in court the records of the negotiations with the judge in the original case. What do they have to hide that they would rather lose their case before the whole world than reveal?

[fpb.livejournal.com]

And if you read the news, you will find that she does not want another trial because what really traumatized and mind-raped her was her treatment at the hands of the media.