LA DA Cooley blasts Swiss over Polanski

Los Angeles District Attorney Steve Cooley has sharply criticized the Swiss government’s refusal Monday to extradite Roman Polanski. Cooley said he’ll still seek ways to bring the Oscar-winning film director back to L.A. on charges he had unlawful sexual intercourse with a 13-year-old girl more than three decades ago.

Cooley issued a statement saying his office complied “fully with all of the factual and legal requirements of the extradition treaty” and said he’s “deeply disappointed” in the Swiss. He said that government’s failure to extradite Polanski is a “disservice to justice and other victims as a whole.”

Cooley promised to maintain an active arrest warrant for Polanski, who’s 76 years old now.

Along with prosecutors, Hollywood's closely watched the trans-Atlantic struggle over of one its most famous directors. His films included "Chinatown," "Rosemary's Baby," and "The Pianist" in 2002.

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“Remember, he is still an active working director. He still has relationships with studios, producers, production companies and financiers," Hollywood Reporter senior editor Alex Ben Block said.

He said one Hollywood camp maintains that Polanski should return to Los Angeles and face charges he gave Champagne and the sedative Quaalude to a 13-year-old girl and then had sex when her.

Others support the director — and the Swiss government’s refusal to send him back to Los Angeles.

“There was a group who actually got petitions together and said this man is a great artist, he is being harassed, the victim has said she doesn’t want him punished anymore, leave him alone," Block said.

Barbara Blaine, national president of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, said the Swiss government’s decision was a “travesty.” She said it will discourage young sexual abuse victims from exposing their attackers.

“The kind of statements that have been made in support of Mr. Polanski actually are hurting any teenager today who is being victimized," she said.

A statement from the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests also denounced sexual perpetrators who escape justice “by political clout.”

Blaine said it shouldn’t matter that Polanski’s victim, now 39 years old, doesn’t want him prosecuted.

“The fact that the victim who is now a grown adult is saying 'oh never mind, let it go,' from our perspective is a reckless barometer to determine whether he poses a risk to other children," she said.

Swiss authorities listed several reasons for not extraditing Polanski, whom they arrested last September on behalf of the United States. The director had visited Switzerland from his home in France to receive a lifetime achievement at the Zurich Film Festival.

Authorities in that country said the U.S. failed to provide confidential testimony to refute defense arguments that Polanski served his sentence under a plea deal before he fled. They also said the director could “reliably expect” not to be deported because the U.S. knew of his regular visits to Switzerland but had never arrested him before. The Swiss also noted the victim’s desire that Polanski not be prosecuted.

“You know, it does seem like the Swiss were offering every conceivable that they could think of to support their decision," U.S.C. Law Professor Jean Rosenbluth said.

"Maybe what they’re trying to say is that any one of these things alone was not determinative. But when you take the whole big picture with all these factors, that’s why they decided not to extradite him," she said.

With prosecutors vowing to continue their pursuit of Polanski, Block of The Hollywood Reporter said the famous director will be careful about traveling far from home.

“There are lots of other countries that have extradition agreements with the United States. He’s now obviously going to be extremely careful."