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Poland Restarts Attempt To Extradite Roman Polanski
Poland announced on Tuesday that they are renewing efforts to extradite filmmaker and convicted child rapist Roman Polanski to the United States. The Hollywood Reporter reports that the Polish government will appeal a judge's decision made in October to not extradite Polanski to the United States.
After he was convicted of raping a 13-year-old girl at the home of Jack Nicholson in 1977, Polanski fled to Europe.
The announcement, which came from Poland's Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro, calls out a decision made by a Polish judge last October—to not extradite Polanski to the United States—a "serious breach" of the extradition treaties between the U.S. and Poland.
On October 30, 2016, Polish Judge Dariusz Mazur declared, for some reason, that an extradition to Los Angeles County would be "obviously unlawful," and that the state of California is would be unable to provide humane incarceration for Polanski. This was upheld when Polish prosecutors failed to challenge the decision in court in November.
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In his Tuesday statement, Justice Minister Ziobro says that he disagrees with the judge's decision, calling it "incomprehensible" that the judge believed Polanski would be treated inhumanly if extradited to the U.S., according to City News Service.
Attempts to extradite Polanski to the U.S. following his conviction for raping a 13-year-old girl who was under the influence of both alcohol and the sedative methaqualone have been protracted for decades. Polanski, who holds both French and Polish citizenships, plead guilty to having sex with Samantha Geimer during a 1977 photo shoot. After serving 42 days in prison, Polanski fled to Europe. In 2009, Polanski was arrested on an outstanding American warrant in Switzerland, but was released the next year without extradition.
Polanski has remained an active filmmaker during his time in Europe, though not without glances into misogynistic soul. At the Cannes Film Festival, in 2013, Polanski muttered how he believes "the pill has changed greatly the woman of our times, 'masculinizing' her."
As the Hollywood Reporter reports, Polanski is putting the finishing touches on a film about the Dreyfus Affair, a scandal that divided France during the late 1890s about man wrongfully convicted of sharing secret French military intelligence with Germany. The film is co-financed by the Polish Film Institute.
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