Fleeing Justice

November 19, 2004

Here’s an “odd news story”:http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A59533-2004Nov18.html. _Vanity Fair_ ran a story in 2002 claiming that Director Roman Polanski (_Rosemary’s Baby_ and _Chinatown_) seduced a woman while on his way to his own wife’s funeral. Roman Polanski would like to sue for libel in British court, but there’s a problem: Britain has an extradition treaty with the United States, and Polanski is a fugative from United States justice — “he was convicted in 1977 of statutory rape among other things”:http://www.rotten.com/library/bio/artists/roman-polanski/.

The British government _insists_ that Polanski appear in person in order to try the libel suit, which would put him in danger of extradition. Polanski’s lawyer says this treatment of Polanski is not fair:

bq. Polanski’s lawyer, Richard Spearman, told the House of Lords, Britain’s highest court of appeal, that the courts were preventing Polanski from suing for defamation because he was a fugitive from U.S. justice. “This leaves the case in a mess and has left a situation where a defendant can get away with a libel scot-free,” Spearman said.

So Polanski, who fled the United States because he was convicted for getting a very underage girl smashed and stoned before having sex with her, is upset that *his* lawbreaking is being used to let someone else get away with breaking the law?

Does anyone feel a thimble-full of sympathy for this guy?

Posted in Art and Writing