The filmmaker Roman Polanski was arrested Saturday night in Switzerland on a mandate to stop american, aors that he was to be honoured by the Film Festival in Zurich. One who is the object of a procedure opened by the american authorities, there are more than thirty years to a matter of morals, is in danger of extradition.
The film-maker franco-Polish Roman Polanski was arrested Saturday evening on a warrant of arrest american on his arrival in Switzerland, where he was to be honoured by the Film Festival in Zurich. At 76 years old, he is the subject of a procedure opened against him by the american authorities, there are more than thirty years to a matter of morals. The director had fled the Us for Europe in 1978, in the wake of prosecutions for sexual relations with a minor under the age of 13. In 1977, Roman Polanski had pled guilty to Los Angeles and spent 42 days in prison before going into exile, with the sentence becoming greater than what had been agreed. The film maker’s arrest could lead to his extradition to the United States.
The Swiss “had no other solution” than to arrest Polanski, said the swiss minister of Justice Eveline Wildmer-Schlumpf. “Switzerland has not experienced pressure from the Americans. (…) The policy has nothing to see here”. Switzerland has applied the extradition agreement that binds the United States as it has done on other occasions, she argued. “In a State of law, it is not possible to make differences. It would be incomprehensible that a person out of the lot enjoys a different treatment”, she added.
For his part, Frédéric Mitrerrand, the minister of Culture and Communication, has shown to be supportive of Roman Polanski, declaring himself “stunned” by the arrest, and stating himself to be “met with the president of the Republic, Nicolas Sarkozy, who follows the folder with the greatest attention and sharing the desire (…) a quick resolution of the situation.” “To see him like that thrown at them for an ancient story that has no real meaning and to see him thus alone, imprisoned while travelling to an event where we would honor him, that is to say, thus taken in a trap, it is absolutely terrible”, concluded the minister. Poland and France will ask together in Washington for the release of Roman Polanski, announced on Sunday the head of the diplomacy of the Polish Radoslaw Sikorski. Polanski was in the process of bring the finishing touches to The Man Of The Shadows, his new film.
Source : allocine.fr
