by MONITOR
ROMAN Polanski is a highly talented film-maker who has been on the run from American justice since 1977 when after pleading guilty to rape of a child under 14 he escaped from custody and left the country, never to return. He is now 76 with a wife and children and a French passport; he also has a house in Switzerland which he has visited regularly for many years without any trouble. Last weekend he travelled to Switzerland to receive an award for his films but got only as far as Zurich airport where he was arrested by police acting on a US warrant for his extradition. Those who admire Polanski's work, from President Sarkozy down, are outraged at this sudden and long-delayed threat to his freedom. They ask, Why now? Others believe that his skill as film-maker and his good behaviour as a citizen in Europe has nothing to do with the fact that he committed a serious crime in 1977 and should be made to answer for it. The child he raped, now a grown woman with three children of her own, has been reported as saying that she does not want the case re-opened.
It is certainly odd that the US authorities, having taken no action for so many years despite his frequent movements about Europe and elsewhere, should suddenly show this interest in bringing him back.
THE POLANSKI AFFAIR
03/10/2013 00:00
Also in Holiday
- Emergency declared on Ryanair flight bound for Palma from Dublin
- British tourists will be “tracked” while on holiday in Mallorca
- Mallorca ambassador Sir Bradley Wiggins has “lost” his Mallorca home
- Mallorca restaurants losing clients, tourists tighten their belts
- Mallorca hotelier - "I wouldn't go to a place where I perceived there to be animosity towards tourists"
No comments
To be able to write a comment, you have to be registered and logged in
Currently there are no comments.