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Polanski Breaks Silence, Blasts Prosecutors

Director breaks silence to accuse LA DA of courting publicity

By the Associated Press

Posted May 2, 2010 4:26 PM CDT

(AP) – Filmmaker Roman Polanski, breaking a months-long silence, said today the US is demanding his extradition from Switzerland largely to serve him "on a platter to the media." Polanski, who is under house arrest in his Swiss home, laid out his case against extradition on an online magazine run by one of his staunchest supporters, French philosopher Bernard-Henri Levy.

"I have had my share of dramas and joys, as we all have, and I am not going to try to ask you to pity my lot in life," he wrote. "I ask only to be treated fairly like anyone else." Polanski suggests the case against him is unjust and riddled with problems. Each argument begins with the phrase: "I can remain silent no longer." Swiss authorities are trying to decide whether to extradite Polanski to Los Angeles, where he pleaded guilty to statutory rape for having sex in 1977 with a 13-year-old girl.

Roman Polanski at the Che Tempo Che Fa TV show, RAI Studios in Milan, Italy, Nov. 23, 2008.
Roman Polanski at the "Che Tempo Che Fa" TV show, RAI Studios in Milan, Italy, Nov. 23, 2008.   (Getty Images)
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COMMENTS
Showing 3 of 30 comments
rajanKazhmin
May 3, 2010 9:03 PM CDT
When it comes to raping children, he could learn a thing or two from the pope.
Ultraworld
May 3, 2010 5:38 AM CDT
What also sickens me is a lot of A list actors signed a petition to let him back in. They are lined up 3 deep to act in his movies. I feel better now, thanks
Ultraworld
May 3, 2010 5:35 AM CDT
This creep makes my blood boil. A short history of his case ( he left this out of his statement) He some how got a mother of a 13 yr old girl ( a 7th grader) to leave her child alone with him at the home of Jack Nicholson & Angelica Houston, was going to make her a star. One the first visit, he got her to drink champagne. He also got her top less and photographed a 7th grader top less. The next encounter, he gave her a Quaalude & gave her more champagne. He gets her naked in the hot tub. He forces her to have anal sex because he doesn't want to get her pregnant and doesn't want to leave any sign that she was raped. Her mother goes to the hospital & calls the cops. They arrest Polanski, but he has a lot of influence in LA & a good lawyer. He had a deal that would have kept him out of jail. But the morning of his court appearance he gets scared that he will go to jail so he flees to Europe. This man was born in Poland, never a naturalized US citizen. He's locked up in a multi million dollar Chalet in the alps right now. He should be in a US jail cell, then kicked out of the USA. He says this is all about a politician using this case to get elected to the State Attorney General.

Copyright 2012 Newser, LLC. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. AP contributed to this report.

 
California • Switzerland • Los Angeles • house arrest • extradition • Roman Polanski • Bernard-Henri Levy • statutory rape • Roman Polanski house arrest

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