Director Roman Polanski may have narrowly escaped yet another attempt to extradite him to the United States on charges that he raped a San Francisco 13-year-old 33 years ago. According to this article by Ewa Siedlecka of Poland’s Gazeta Wyborcza, Polanski canceled a visit to a film festival in his native country of Poland at the last minute, leading many to believe he feared the long arm of American law.
For Poland’s Gazeta Wyborcza, Ewa Siedlecka writes in part:
On June 6, Roman Polanski was supposed to attend the opening of the annual Polish Film Festival in Gdynia to accept the Platinum Lions Award for lifetime achievement. But on June 2, organizers announced that “despite an earlier confirmation by Roman Polanski that he would attend the last two days of the festival, the director has sent a message saying that he has changed his plans and cancelled his visit to Gdynia.”
There is speculation that the reason for his decision may have been due to right-wing opposition leaders Marek Jurek and Marian Pilka. They urged, “public institutions and authorities (especially the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, the Polish Film Institute, the National Broadcasting Council and Polish TV – TVP SA)” to boycott the festival because of the invitation to Polanski, who, “is being prosecuted by the U.S. Justice System for one of the most socially condemnable crimes – having sex with a 13-year-old 33 years ago.
In September 2009, Polanski was arrested in Switzerland for extradition to the United States. He was released after 10 months of detention; Switzerland refused to extradite him because the U.S. failed to clarify some the legal questions posed by Swiss prosecutors. It was at this point that the Polish Prosecutor’s Office posted on its Web site the legal opinion of Prosecutor General Krzysztof Karsznicki, who stated: “Handing Roman Polanski over to another country is not possible.” Karsznicki invoked Polish law, according to which under Poland’s statue of limitations, Polanski’s crime is no longer prosecutable.
It turns out, however, that under Article 8 of the bilateral extradition agreement between Poland and the United States, which was published in the Official Legal Gazette on May 10, 2010, Poland’s statute of limitations does not preclude Polanski’s extradition. According to the provisions of Article 8, extradition is barred only when the offence committed falls under the statue of limitations of the prosecuting country. In the event, Polanski’s crime will never fall under an American statue of limitations.
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