THE POLANSKI AFFAIR

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.