Continuing our foreign press coverage of the Roman Polanski saga, this news item from Switzerland’s Le Temps reports that an embarrassed Swiss foreign ministry is denying any deal related to the UBS scandal and that the people of Switzerland ‘can be proud’ that Polanski has been nabbed by Swiss authorities. The article also offers a description of how Polanski’s arrest was set in motion.
By correspondent Valentine Zubler, the Le Temps article says in part:
“’Our capacity to act was limited, because we can’t treat people who are well known differently than people who aren’t. That is, in Switzerland, we don’t accept this,’ emphasized Foreign Minister Calmy-Rey, adding that the country ‘can be proud.’ … Responding to, ‘the links drawn by some’ between the Polanski affair and UBS, Calmy-Rey forcefully rejected the allegations: ‘We are not in the pocket of the United States.’”
By Valentine Zubler
Translated By Lisa Cabrale
October 1, 2009
Switzerland – Le Temps – Original Article (French)
BERNE: The discomfort brought about by the arrest of Roman Polanski at the Zurich airport on Saturday night continues to spread. Yesterday, during a talk at the Diplomatic Press Club, Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey didn’t hide her embarrassment over the affair, and in passing, directed a cutting remark at the federal police and therefore, by extension, at [Justice Minister] Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf. “On the legal front, the procedure raises no doubts. But we could perhaps question the handling of the intervention,” said the foreign minister, for emphasis questioning the advisability of arresting the filmmaker while a festival specifically in his honor was being prepared.
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