Switzerland have announced that Roman Polanski won’t be extradited to the U.S. and he has also been released from house arrest. The Justice Ministry released a statement today saying…
“The reason for the decision lies in the fact that it was not possible to exclude with the necessary certainty a fault in the US extraditionary request.”
Polanski fled the U.S. back in 1978 after pleading guilty to raping a 13-year-old girl but he was arrested last September when honored with a lifetime achievement award in Switzerland, he was then held in custody for two months before placed under house arrest since December. But he is now a free man.
I hope the police in Los Angeles are keeping their eye on Lindsay Lohan, if she knows that Roman Polanski won’t be extradited then she might just book a one way ticket to Switzerland. For a vacation of course.
source: Swiss reject US Polanski extradition [Digital Spy]
Actor Johnny Depp is rushing to the defense of legendary director Roman Polanski, insisting that he’s not some kind of sexual predator.
Polanski faces extradition to the U.S. for a child sex case that stems from 1977. He left the country after his sentencing and hasn’t been back since to face the music.
Depp insists that Polanski is not a threat to society, considering the fact that he’s married and has two children.
Depp said, “Roman is not a predator. He’s 75 or 76-years-old. He has got two beautiful kids, he has got a wife that he has been with for a long, long time. He is not out on the street.”
I wouldn’t care how old this man is, it doesn’t mean he couldn’t overpower a younger girl and have his way with her. I would have believed this statement more if Johnny said that Roman couldn’t get it up.
source: Depp: “Polanski Is Not A Predator” – [contact music]
Roman Polanski has won damages from a French newspaper that photographed him at his Swiss home, where he is confined pending extradition proceedings on rape charges.
A Paris court convicted French daily Aujourd’hui en France, with its Paris edition Le Parisien, of breaching Polanski’s privacy and the right to the use of his image. These rights are strictly protected by French law.
The court ordered the newspaper to pay €3000 ($4670) to Polanski and his wife, the French actress Emmanuelle Seigner. The newspaper had photographed Polanski, his wife and son at the family’s chalet near Gstaad, Switzerland.
The filmmaker is under house arrest there while Swiss authorities consider a US demand to deport him and face charges of having unlawful sex with a 13-year-old girl in California in 1977.
Polanski and Seigner had demanded a total of €40,000 ($62,200) in damages and interest from Aujourd’hui en France and are seeking a further €75,000 ($116,700) in cases against three other French publications.
The filmmaker doesn’t want to be photographed, irony.
source: Roman Polanski wins damages for illegal snaps [news.com.au]
After being released from jail on house arrest, Roman Polanski thinks that photographers are invading his privacy. So, he’s suing them for $700,000.
In an fight to avoid extradition to the U.S. for child molestation charges, the shamed filmmaker retreated back to the comfort of his “Milky Way” chalet on December 4th.
Hordes of photographers came by the chalet upon his release to get photos of him when they snapped this juicy piece of privacy invasion. His finger now wants $699,999 of the money for infliction of emotional distress.
He has filed the case in Paris, which is known for its leniency on the rich and famous. The case will go to court on January 12, 2010 in Paris.
source: Roman Polanski sues photographers for ‘invading privacy’ during Swiss house arrest – [telegraph]
In 1977, Roman Polanski, aged 44, had sex with a 13-year-old girl named Samantha Gailey. He invited her over for a photo shoot, then gave her quaaludes and champagne.
In an interview, she recalled, “We did photos with me drinking champagne. Toward the end it got a little scary, and I realized he had other intentions and I knew I was not where I should be. I just didn’t quite know how to get myself out of there. I said, ‘No, no. I don’t want to go in there. No, I don’t want to do this. No!’, and then I didn’t know what else to do. We were alone and I didn’t know what else would happen if I made a scene. So I was just scared, and after giving some resistance, I figured well, I guess I’ll get to come home after this.”
Despite her protests, she said, “he performed oral sex, intercourse and sodomy” on her, each time after being told no and being asked to stop.
Now that you’re caught up on the back story of this whole scandal, let’s fast forward to today. I never thought I would refer to Whoopi Goldberg as a nitwit, but I am today.
On “The View”, she defended Polanski, saying that it wasn’t “rape-rape.” What does that even mean?!??
He pleaded guilty of unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor, but it was still rape. She was thirteen, for Christ’s sakes.
Listen to what Whoopi had to say:
I hope they throw the book at that coward. Shame on him for what he did to that young girl. I know that she probably wants to move on already, but he still committed a crime and then fled the country for fear of the sentence.
