Legal Commentary

Outrageous Arrest in Switzerland: Free Roman Polanski

By Jeralyn

The Swiss have arrested Roman Polanski on an outstanding warrant from California relating to his 1977 prosecution on a sexual assault charge. They were laying in wait, as they knew Polanski, who had always been allowed to freely travel to the country, was en route to accept an international film award. CNN has more here.

France is outraged. So am I. Polanski has lived in France since fleeing the U.S. in 1978 after the Judge, at the behest of a prosecutor not involved in the case, re-negged on a plea deal and was going to sentence Polanski to prison instead of the agreed upon time served in exchange for his guilty plea. [More...]

Polanski tried to get the conviction overthrown last year, with the consent of the victim, and the judge said he couldn't do it because Polanski had to be here in person. But, he noted how troubled he was by the judge's and prosecutor's manipulations.

France has this reaction:

In Paris, Culture Minister Frederic Mitterrand said he was "dumbfounded" by Polanski's arrest, adding that he "strongly regrets that a new ordeal is being inflicted on someone who has already experienced so many of them." Those comments referred to the fact that Polanski, a native of France who was taken to Poland by his parents, escaped Krakow's Jewish ghetto as a child during World War II and lived off the charity of strangers. His mother died at the Nazis' Auschwitz death camp.

Mitterrand's office said Sunday that he was in contact with French President Nicolas Sarkozy "who is following the case with great attention and shares the minister's hope that the situation can be quickly resolved."

And,

Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner spoke to his Swiss counterpart, Micheline Calmy-Rey, to urge that "Polanski's rights be fully respected and that the case would quickly result in a favorable outcome," the statement said.

The U.S. must now file formal extradition papers. Those are presented through a diplomatic note, from the State Department, working with the Office of International Affairs (OIA). See, Office of the Legal Advisor's Law Enforcement and Intelligence (OLA/LEI).

After being approved by OIA, the formal extradition request is sent to Department of State's OLA/LEI and then presented through diplomatic channels at the Department of State to the foreign government. After the foreign government's law enforcement authority arrests the fugitive, an extradition hearing is conducted in the foreign court. If the court finds that the documentation presented by the United States is sufficient, then a certification of extraditability is rendered. If the court does not find the documentation sufficient, then the extradition request is denied. When a court grants the extradition request, the fugitive has the right to appeal.

Here is the section of the U.S. Attorney's Manual on foreign extradition requests.

Hillary, please don't do it. Free Roman.

Full post as published by TalkLeft on September 27, 2009 (boomark / email).