For those of you not in the loop, Roman Polanski (the filmmaker who brought us Rosemary’s Baby and The Pianist) plead guilty of drugging and raping a 13 year old girl in 1977 and then fled the country. He has enjoyed the freedom and success in his field ever since.
Well recently, Polanski was lured to Zurich to recieve an award at a film festival and instead was faced with arrest. Finally it appeared like he may face justice for his admitted criminal acts over 30 years ago.
But now we are getting reports that the Swiss courts have granted him bail under the condition that half his wealth be put up for collateral.
Swiss Justice Ministry has REJECTED an appeal by Roman Polanski to be immediately released from prison, it didn’t even grant Polanski any bail even after he offered his Gstaad chalet as collateral, which was estimated to be more than half of his personal wealth but Variety and THR said that Swiss has granted Polanski $4.5 bail…
The report says that apparently the court was aiming for cash but to make sure he stays put, on top of the bail, the court has accepted Polanski’s offer of a bank guarantee and the threat of sacrificing his family’s home if he fled justice.
But why give this man ANY leverage at all? Why are they letting him counter offer with this glamourous stay of execution?
He is not escaping custody, but in a way he is. He will be forced to wear an electronic monitoring bracelet that will alert authorities if he attempts to leave, but in the mean time he gets to live in the lap of luxury in his fancy Swiss Chalet at a resort.
A RESORT????
Why is ANY of this a consideration at all. The man had NO qualms about pleading guilty then hopping a plane to skip the country before sentencing. Do we really think that an electonic bracelet is going to be enough to keep him local?
This is someone who has proven to have no respect for law, and is more than happy to live with the limitations he inflicted on himself by fleeing the United States.
Just extradite this guy, let him serve his time and pay whatever fines they impose and then he can move on. After over 30 years of dodging his admitted crimes, I don’t understand why this is taking so long to just bring him to justice.
Instead, lets just make sure he has room service.
