Roman Polanski: Poland Rejects U.S. Extradition Request

By Jeralyn, Section Crime in the News
Posted on Fri Oct 30, 2015 at 08:23:03 PM EST
Tags: Roman Polanski (all tags)

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At least some good news today: Poland has rejected the U.S. request to extradite 82 year old director Roman Polanski for a crime committed almost 40 years ago.

At a hearing in Krakow, Judge Dariusz Mazur ruled that turning over Mr. Polanski would be an “obviously unlawful” deprivation of liberty and that California would be unlikely to provide humane living conditions for the filmmaker, who is 82.

He was also critical of the U.S. judge and prosecutors in the case, saying if he behaved like they did, he'd lose all respect. [More...]

“I’m terrified by the statements of some of my colleagues in the U.S.,” he said, citing a report last year that a Los Angeles judge had planned to have Mr. Polanski “cool his heels in jail” if he returned to the United States by delaying a ruling on a proposed deal under which the judge would limit his sentence to 42 days served by the filmmaker in 1977-78. (The deal did not materialize.)

“If I were to behave like them, I’d lose the respect of all my subordinates here,” Judge Mazur said. “I do not find any logical, rational explanation as to why the U.S. is pursuing the extradition.”

Polanski was obviously pleased with the ruling:

“I am happy that I trusted the Polish justice system.” He praised the judge as “incredibly well-informed,” adding, “Frankly, I was moved.”

Switzerland similarly rejected a request for Polanski's extradition in 2010. Enough already. The Los Angeles DA's office looks more foolish with each attempt.

All of our coverage of the Roman Polanski extradition efforts is accessible here.

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