TO THE SWISS, THE FRENCH AND THE ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY, FORCIBLE RAPE OF A CHILD IS OK (2)

The L.A. Times mirrors my previous thoughts on this gross miscarriage of justice. When Polanski’s day finally comes, may this scumbag rot in Hell!
　
THE SWISS MISS ON ROMAN POLANSKI
　
Los Angeles Times
July 13, 2010
　
Roman Polanski committed a serious crime in 1977, pleading guilty to sex with a 13-year-old girl as part of an agreement that spared him from a charge of drugging and raping his victim. In refusing to extradite Polanski to the United States, the government of Switzerland has substituted its judgment for that of the U.S. legal system. It's a usurpation that trivializes Polanski's wrongdoing in the cause of twisted notions of "good faith" and the requirements of "international public order."
　
Switzerland's primary rationalization was that the judge in Polanski's case may have reneged on a promise that the director would serve only 42 days in a prison psychiatric unit. "It is not possible to exclude with the necessary certainty," the Swiss justice department said, "that Roman Polanski has already served the sentence he was condemned to." The department noted that it couldn't be sure because it had been denied sealed testimony by a former prosecutor that might have corroborated that assertion.
　
But that's an issue that should have been dealt with by an inquiry in an American court once Polanski was back in the United States. Switzerland's proper role was not to consider the underlying facts of a sentence but to return a fugitive from justice.
　
As if they realized their claim was unconvincing, the Swiss also said that under international law, extradition requests must be acted on in "good faith." Doing so, the department said, required taking into account the fact that the United States waited years to file a formal request for Polanski to be taken into custody. That delay supposedly justified Polanski's expectation that he wouldn't be arrested if he attended a film festival in Zurich.
　
It's hard to resist concluding that Polanski's celebrity played a role in his rescue from a legal accounting in the United States. Would a fugitive who wasn't a gifted director provoke musings about the dictates of "international public order"? Or the conclusion that, just because he hadn't been apprehended so far, he had a legitimate expectation that he would remain free forever? It seems the Swiss may share the moral myopia that has made Polanski an object of sympathy throughout Europe. (France's culture minister said the pursuit of Polanski was evidence of "a scary America.")
　
As we have observed before, Polanski has every right to argue to a U.S. court that he was misled by the judge in his case about his punishment. But the legal and moral prerequisite for such a contention is that he return to the United States.
　
Difficult as it will be, the district attorney and the U.S. Justice Department should continue to monitor Polanski's movements in the hope that some other country might honor the obligations that Switzerland irresponsibly ignored.