Roman Polanski is one of the most famous directors/producers/writers/actors in the world. It is because of his immense creative talent that we have masterpieces like The Pianist, Chinatown, and The Ghost Writer. But you may not have realized that he hasn’t been in the US for decades. That is because he was embroiled in a heated legal battle some time ago. He was accused and convicted of raping a 13 year old girl. The woman, now all grown up, is Samantha Gailey and she claimed that he drugged her and committed various unwanted sexual acts. During the original legal battle, Polanski agreed to plead guilty to statutory rape but before he could do so in court he “fled” the country.
Polanski’s lawyer, Jerzy Stachowicz, argues that he did not flee the country because he was never prohibited from leaving in the first place. “Mr. Polanski didn’t flee, as it is believed,” Mr. Stachowicz said. “He simply bought a plane ticket, checked in his luggage and boarded a plane. It was not fleeing.” He has been living in France and Poland with his wife ever since then. Over the years, the US has made numerous requests for the extradition of Polanski since he is a convicted felon. Finally the case was reviewed by Poland’s Supreme Court.
Unfortunately, Poland’s Supreme Court denied the US request for extradition of one of it’s citizens. This was largely due to the fact that Poland’s Supreme Court believes his court case was tried unfairly in the US. There seemed to be enough doubt for the Polish Supreme court to give their own citizen the benefit of the doubt. If you thought that Polanski is a US citizen, you’re not alone. Polanski is actually not a US citizen but instead holds a dual citizenship to France and Poland. So in the case that Poland’s Supreme Court actually decided to sent Polanski back to the US it wouldn’t have mattered because he is also a French citizen and France does not have an extradition treaty with the US. Meaning he could just have stayed in France regardless of the outcome.
Many experts say that the ruling was more influenced by the politics of Poland rather than the facts of the case. In Poland, there is a broad push for their legal system to return to a more Roman Catholic centric ideology so they could enforce a reputation of law and order. The chief prosecutor and justice minister of Poland, Zbigniew Ziobro, even put in a request months earlier to extradite Polanski to the US. Ziobro has also said that Polanski has received preferential treatment from the Polish Supreme Court. “If he was just a regular guy, a teacher, doctor, plumber, decorator, then I’m confident that he’d have been deported from any country to the U.S. a long time ago.” The Polish Supreme Court has specifically stated that sending Polanski back to the US is an “obviously unlawful” deprivation of his basic human liberties. They believe that the State of California would not be able to hold a fair trial or provide humane conditions for confinement for the now 82 year old.
Though Samantha Gailey may not get the long sought justice she deserves, Polanski has to forever live with his actions.
Latest Comments