* Polanski arrested

* Festival to go ahead with planned tribute



By Jason Rhodes

ZURICH, Sept 27 (Reuters) - Film-maker Roman Polanski was arrested in Switzerland on a 31-year-old U.S. arrest warrant, the Zurich Film Festival said in a statement on Sunday.

Polanski's arrest on Saturday evening was in connection with an arrest warrant issued by U.S. authorities in 1978 for having unlawful sex with an underage girl, the statement said.

The film-maker had been due to recieve the prize for his life's work at the Film Festival on Sunday evening, kick-starting a retrospective of his film career.

"Roman Polanski, one of the greatest film directors of our time, would have received an award for his life's achievement at the Zurich Film Festival," the statement said.

"However, he was detained by the police upon his entry at Zurich Airport. His detention is linked to the demand by U.S.-authorities to a warrant for his arrest in 1978."

"The festival directors have received this news with great consternation and shock," the festival said, adding that the tribute to Polanski would go ahead so that festival-goers could express their solidarity and admiration for the film-maker.

He was arrested in the late 1970s and charged with giving drugs and alcohol to a 13-year-old girl and having unlawful sex with her at a photo session at Jack Nicholson's Hollywood home.

Polanski, who maintained the girl was sexually experienced and had consented, spent 42 days in prison undergoing psychiatric tests but fled the country before being sentenced. His U.S. visa has since been withdrawn.

Polanski's agent in Los Angeles was not immediately available for comment.

If he is extradited he will go to jail for at least 5 years the long arm and rightfully so This will become an interesting subject on morals and the discussion will take place throughout the world He must be prosecuted as an example on many levels Let us see what the leftys and moral bankrupts have to say about the great ARTIST ..............." He was arrested in the late 1970s and charged with giving drugs and alcohol to a 13-year-old girl and having unlawful sex with her at a photo session at Jack Nicholson's Hollywood home.".... ..this cries out for justice and Obama has two young daughters

I remember that case and how he evaded justice by running to Europe (a la Charlie Chaplin). I thought that there was a statute of limitations on certain crimes, but I guess in this case there isn't. The slime ball director Polanski will get some payback now, I never did like his movies, except "Rosemary's baby"

His art and his moral turpitude are distinct If he is extradited this will be a hot potato for Obama and the discussions on the law versus morality will be fascinating if he comes to the USA its jail for him and rightfully so the lefty weanies and moral bankrupts are going to cry Taliban and want to put him on Oprah

Swiss arrest Polanski on US request in sex case
AP

ZURICH – Director Roman Polanski was arrested by Swiss police for possible extradition to the United States for having sex in 1977 with a 13-year-old girl, authorities said Sunday.

Polanski was flying in to receive an honorary award at the Zurich Film Festival when he was apprehended Saturday at the airport, the Swiss Justice Ministry said in a statement. It said U.S. authorities have sought the arrest of the 76-year-old around the world since 2005.

"There was a valid arrest request and we knew when he was coming," ministry spokesman Guido Balmer told The Associated Press. "That's why he was taken into custody."

Balmer said the U.S. would now be given time to make a formal extradition request.

Polanski fled the U.S. in 1978, a year after pleading guilty to unlawful sexual intercourse with the underage girl.

The director of such classic films as "Chinatown" and "Rosemary's Baby" has asked a U.S. appeals court in California to overturn a judges' refusal to throw out his case. He claims misconduct by the now-deceased judge who had arranged a plea bargain and then reneged on it.

The Swiss statement said Polanski was officially in "provisional detention for extradition," but added that he would not be transferred to U.S. authorities until all proceedings are completed. Polanski can contest his detention and any extradition decision in the Swiss courts, it said.

Polanski has faced a U.S. arrest request since 1978 and has lived for the past three decades in France, where his career has continued to flourish. He received a directing Oscar in absentia for the 2002 movie "The Pianist." He was not extradited from France because his crime reportedly was not covered under the U.S.'s treaties with the country.

In France, Culture Minister Frederic Mitterrand said he was "dumbfounded" by Polanski's arrest, adding that he "strongly regrets that a new ordeal is being inflicted on someone who has already experienced so many of them."

Mitterrand's ministry said Sunday in a statement that he is in contact with French President Nicolas Sarkozy, "who is following the case with great attention and shares the minister's hope that the situation can be quickly resolved."

A native of France who was taken to Poland by his parents, Polanski escaped Krakow's Jewish ghetto as a child and lived off the charity of strangers. His mother died at the Auschwitz Nazi death camp.

He worked his way into filmmaking in Poland, gaining an Oscar nomination for best foreign-language film in 1964 for his "Knife in the Water." Offered entry to Hollywood, he directed the classic "Rosemary's Baby" in 1968.

But his life was shattered again in 1969 when his wife, actress Sharon Tate, and four other people were gruesomely murdered by followers of Charles Manson. She was eight months pregnant.

He went on to make another American classic, "Chinatown," released in 1974.

In 1977, he was accused of raping the teenager while photographing her during a modeling session. The girl said Polanski plied her with champagne and part of a Quaalude pill at Jack Nicholson's house while the actor was away. She said that, despite her protests, he performed oral sex, intercourse and sodomy on her.

Polanski was allowed to plead guilty to one of six charges, unlawful sexual intercourse, and was sent to prison for 42 days of evaluation.

Lawyers agreed that would be his full sentence, but the judge tried to renege on the plea bargain. Aware the judge would sentence him to more prison time and require his voluntary deportation, Polanski fled to France.

The victim, Samantha Geimer, who long ago identified herself publicly, has joined in Polanski's bid for dismissal, saying she wants the case to be over. She sued Polanski and reached an undisclosed settlement.

Festival organizers said Polanski's detention had caused "shock and dismay," but that they would go ahead with Sunday's planned retrospective of the director's work.

The Swiss Directors Association sharply criticized authorities for what it deemed "not only a grotesque farce of justice, but also an immense cultural scandal."

Festival organizers said Polanski's detention had caused "shock and dismay," but that they would go ahead with Sunday's planned retrospective of the director's work.

The Swiss Directors Association sharply criticized authorities for what it deemed "not only a grotesque farce of justice, but also an immense cultural scandal."........ In France, Culture Minister Frederic Mitterrand said he was "dumbfounded" by Polanski's arrest, adding that he "strongly regrets that a new ordeal is being inflicted on someone who has already experienced so many of them." THIS IS CULTURE He gave a 13 year old a Qualude and champagne then raped and sodomized her IS THIS CULTURE If it is it is elitist

Of course some people who are American like Jackson do all sorts of things...... and are idolized. One cheer for American justice. The age of consent is 13 insome countries 12 in others.
S.

You are a moron what civilized country has an age of consent of 12 you idiot she was drugged and raped at the age of 13 you and your anti Americanism disgust civilized people ......is this what you truly believe Then we know why you live here.....you are a sicko

Prof, i am not a legal expert ,by any means, but i suspect there is no statute of limitation on criminal offenses. civil, yes, but criminal,i guess not. that is why so many gringos are stuck here.

Dread what about the subject at hand Polanski ? of course there is no statute of limitations they arrested him did they not you always complain about this very thing for money let alone a 13 year old drugged raped and sodomized statute of limitations Who Cares send this guy to jail