July 16, 2005

The French Can Have Him!

LONDON (Reuters) - Film director Roman Polanski is due to appear in a London libel case via video link from Paris next week, setting a legal precedent and avoiding the risk of extradition to the United States for a child sex offence.

Polanski is being allowed to sue the British publishers of Vanity Fair magazine from a hotel room in Paris after England's highest court in February overturned an earlier ruling that would have forced him to come to London to fight his case.

I find it shameful that England's highest court reached a decision to protect Polanski from the justice that awaits him so he can seek resolution in the libel case he filed.  The scum is an admitted pedophile, pleading guilty to a charge of having sex with a 13-year-old girl in 1977.  Following that pleading, he skipped bail and fled to France before sentencing. 

Polanski, who won a best director Oscar for "The Pianist" in 2003, has never been back to the United States or Britain, and if he came to London he would face possible extradition to America. He cannot be extradited from his native France.

Polanski's lawyers say it will be the first time a libel claimant has given evidence at trial via video link.

"The idea, more than 25 years after Polanski left the United States, that he is still unable to return or even enter this country is extraordinary," said Joshua Rozenberg, legal editor at the Daily Telegraph newspaper.

No, Mr. Rozenberg, it's called the law and it is not extraordinary in the least.  Polanski acknowledged his guilt, and fled to avoid his punishment.  I think it is extraordinary that you think time - plus an Oscar and a few million dollars of wealth - erases his accountability. 

The case has generated debate in Britain about whether Polanski should be allowed to use the country's legal system while avoiding the consequences of its laws.

Of course it has.  I'm sure the majority of Brits know that Polanski is nothing special and shouldn't be afforded the privileges of utilizing their legal system.  It probably also pisses off quite a few that their courts would stoop to the same level as the French and allow special accommodations for Polanski, while allowing him to avoid taking responsibility for his own criminal acts.

The arrogance of Polanski is unbearable - he blends right into that rotting cesspool called France.  Here is a man whose attorneys fought for him to get access to the judicial system from afar so *his* justice could be pursued all the while avoiding the consequences stemming from his own crimes.  Sickening, isn't it?