Roman Polanski picks up award in Zurich - Photo Zurich Film Festival
ZURICH, SWITZERLAND – The controversial French-Polish film director Roman Polanski, who was arrested two years ago as he made his way to the Zurich Film Festival, came back to Switzerland to collect his lifetime achievement award, “better late than never.”
Polanski who spoke exclusively to the Swiss TV, TSR, said coming back to Switzerland was his way to “thank all of those who have supported [him] during these difficult times.”
During the awards ceremony in Zurich on 27 September, Polanski thanked the Swiss authorities, particularly those from Zurich, for the “good treatment given” while in jail. When the audience laughed Polanski said he was “serious” in his heartfelt thanks.
The director himself said he first came to Switzerland forty years ago “to escape the media frenzy” that followed the murder of his then-pregnant wife in Los Angeles.
“I never said I would not come back to Switzerland. I love it here,” Polanski said during his TV interview.
US authorities accused Polanski of sexual acts with minors, specifically of a case involving a 13-year-old girl in Los Angeles in 1977. In July 2010, after almost a year in detention, Switzerland decided that Polanski, a seasonal Swiss resident, would not be extradited to the United States.
Background stories on GenevaLunch.
Montreux, Switzerland (GenevaLunch.com) – The Montreux Jazz Festival closed its doors Saturday night 17 July with 85 percent of all tickets sold and 23 of 33 main concerts sold out. Film-maker Roman Polanski made his first public appearance since he was freed from house arrest July, to watch his wife perform, Emmanuelle Seigner.
The 2011 jazz festival will run from 1-16 July.
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch.com) – News agency AP has obtained a copy of a letter sent 12 July by the Swiss government to the US embassy in Bern, pointing out that the main reason a request by the US justice officials to extradite director Roman Polanski was turned down was that the US did not provide documents requested by the Swiss. “Swiss officials said in a letter this week to the US Embassy in Bern, Switzerland, that the denial of access to the information was the key factor in their decision to set Polanski free,” reports AP from Los Angeles, where a district attorney’s office has told the agency it was never informed of the Swiss request for sealed transcripts, nor was the office told the US Justice Department had turned down the request.
Filmmaker freed this noon from house arrrest in Gstaad
Swiss Justice Minister Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch.com) – Roman Polanski, who has been under house arrest in Gstaad, canton Bern, since he posted bail in October 2009, following his arrest at Zurich Airport in September 2009, will not be extradited to the United States. Swiss Federal Justice Minister Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf made the announcement at a press conference in Bern Monday afternoon 12 July. The film director was convicted and sentenced in the US in the 1970s on charges of having raped a 13-year-old girl but he fled the country before serving his sentence. He had, however, already spent time in a psychiatric prison pending sentencing.
The decision centred around the question of whether or not Polanski had already served, in the US, the jail term to which he had been sentenced. If he has, an extradition request is not valid. The Justice Department Monday issued a statement noting that
on 3rd March 2010, the Federal Office of Justice (FOJ) asked the USA authorities to substantiate the extradition request by supplying the records of a hearing carried out on 26th January 2010 by the public prosecutor, Roger Gunson, who was in charge of the case in the seventies. The records should prove that, in a meeting held on 19th September 1977, the judge in charge at the time had expressly assured the representatives of the parties that the 42 days of detention spent by Roman Polanski in the psychiatric unit of a Californian prison represented the whole term of imprisonment he was condemned to. If this were the case, Roman Polanski would actually have already served his sentence and therefore both the proceedings on which the US extradition request is founded and the request itself would have no foundation.
The US Department of Justice turned down the request 13 May, citing a court secrecy ruling.
Film director’s request to remain outside the US turned down by California court
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Film director Roman Polanski’s request to stay in Switzerland while his 30-year-old court case is concluded was turned down by a California appeals court Thursday, without the court issuing an opinion. He fled the US before he was sentenced in 1978 on a charge of unlawful sexual intercourse. He was arrested at Zurich airport in September 2009 after the US made a new extradition request.
Switzerland must now decide if it will extradite him, but if he is sentenced to less than six months he is unlikely to be extradited, the justice ministry in Bern noted in March.
Links to other sites: Los Angeles Times, swissinfo
German local government confirms new stolen data offered, Swiss president confirms Germany bought first batch
Swiss politician might consider reconsidering Swiss banking secrecy, some hint
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The saga of data stolen from Swiss banks and offered to the German government continues, with new wrinkles to the story. A German newspaper will publish an article Saturday, reports Swiss television TSR, stating that a new batch of stolen data, with 2,000 client names, is being offered to a regional German government. The government of Bade-Wurtemberg has confirmed the information.
Meanwhile, Swiss President Doris Leuthard told reporters as she came out of a meeting that Switzerland will likely ask for a copy of the first batch of stolen data. Switzerland did the same with data stolen from a Geneva branch of British bank HSBC and sold to the French government. The data will allow Switzerland to see if requests for judicial assistance from France, and perhaps now from Germany, are based on information obtained from the stolen files. If this is the case, Switzerland will refuse to provide assistance because of the illegal source of the information.
Switzerland and Germany have confirmed this week that they are slowly, steadily continuing to negotiate a new bilateral double taxation agreement.
One of the results of this, according to Le Temps newspaper, is that the question of the viability of Swiss banking secrecy is no longer a taboo political issue.
Thieves to be prosecuted once identity known
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Friday often brings some of the world’s stranger bits of news, from amusing to weird to hard to believe:
- Young people who are not yet of voting age, in Geneva, Switzerland erected the first new and relatively small minaret, defying the 29 November popular vote that bans them: in the Place Neuve, out of cardboard. Institute of Race Relations, UK (Ed. note: here is a design for homemade miniature cardboard minarets, in case they suddenly sell out in Swiss shops)
- Manchester, England: a 29-year-old man was shot dead when he and friends were confronted outside the money exchange where he worked. Police say he was robbed for cash and for his laptop. A 20-year-old is in custody. Guardian, UK
- A heavily drunk man in the Perm Territory, in the Russian Urals, was saved from flames by his cat. He fell asleep with a cigarette in his hand and when the apartment burst into flames his cat leaped onto him, scratching his face until the man came to and phoned the fire department. Ria Novosti, Russia
- Read more…
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© Chappatte, distributed by Globe Cartoon. More cartoons on Chappatte’s web site. Geneva-based Patrick Chappatte works for the International Herald Tribune, for Geneva newspaper Le Temps, and for NZZ am Sonntag. All cartoons reproduced with permission.
Zurich, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Film director Roman Polanski could be released on bail for CHF4.5 million, the Swiss Federal Criminal high court ruled Wednesday 25 November, noting that the amount of money put up plus other security measures are adequate to cover the risk he will flee. The court has asked for his identity papers and he has been told to remain home with electronic surveillance while the US request for extradition is examined, a process that could take some weeks.
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Film director Roman Polanski’s request to be freed, while a demand from the United States for his extradition is pending, has been turned down by the Swiss Justice and Police ministry, reports AP, citing spokesperson Guido Falco, who could not be reached for confirmation. An official statement has not yet been issued.
The government reportedly believes there is a risk he will flee. Polanski was jailed following his arrest 26 September at Zurich Airport when he arrived for the Zurich Film Festival. Switzerland and the US have had an extradition treaty covering assistance in criminal matters since 1990. To be extraditable, an offense must be considered a penal crime in both countries.
Zurich, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The latest wrinkle in the headline-making saga of Roman Polanski’s detention in Switzerland for US child rape charges is that of the battle for the right to post information about him on Wikipedia.
Update 5 / Zurich, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Film director Roman Polanski‘s French lawyer Hervé Temime says in a press release that his client is refusing to accept extradition to the US, Swiss news agency AFP reports Monday afternoon. Polanski, in town to receive a lifetime achievement award, was arrested Saturday at Zurich Airport. The news was announced by the organizers of the Zurich Film Festival, who describe the news as a “shock.” The Swiss Justice and Police department spokesperson, Guido Balmer, has since said that “There is no reason not to carry out a valid international arrest warrant.”
The department issued a statement late Sunday afternoon:
“The US authorities are accusing Roman Polanski of sexual acts with minors, specifically in a case of 1977 with a 13-year-old girl in Los Angeles. Since the end of 2005 the US authorities are searching worldwide for Roman Polanski. A US arrest warrant against Roman Polanski exists since 1978.” The government will not issue further details, given the pending status of the extradition request, except to explain the process: “Whether Roman Polanski will be effectively extradited to the USA or not, can be established only, after the extradition process judicially has been finalised. It is possible to appeal at the federal penal court of justice against an arrest warrant in view to extradition as well as against an extradition decision. Their decisions can be taken further to the federal court of justice.”
Polanski pleaded guilty in 1977 and served 42 days in prison, but when his sentence was lengthened he left the country.
