Roman Polanski Will Not Be Extradited in Samantha Geimer Case
Oscar-winning film director Roman Polanski has been released from house arrest and will not be extradited to the United States to face sentencing for raping a 13-year-old girl back in the 1978, The Los Angeles Times reports.
The Swiss Federal Department of Justice and Police said there was a flaw in the U.S. extradition request, involving some papers. The 76 year-old Polanski, who has a vacation chalet in Switzerland, could reliably expect not to be arrested and deported since the U.S. knew that he often stayed there over the last few years but never sought him out there.
Polanski hasn’t come back the US since he fled the country hours before he was to be sentenced for his crime. He was finally arrested in September of 2009, when he was traveling to Zurich to accept a lifetime achievement award at a film festival.
Samantha Geimer, Polanski’s victim, has said publicly that she wanted the case dropped, but many felt that Polanski should not simply get away with such a terrible crime. Do you think he was given special treatment for being a Hollywood director, and a kind of celebrity?
Interestingly enough, legal experts said that Swiss justice officials had to rule based on whether all proper procedures were followed, not on whether Polanski was guilty of the original crime. Huh?
