A few days after the Polish parliament passed a bill to make it the first EU state to chemically castrate child sex offenders, Roman Polanski was arrested in Switzerland. It could be his lucky break.
Polanski, director of acclaimed films like The Pianist and Rosemary’s Baby, had to flee California in the 1970s, after he admitted to having sex with a 13-year-old girl, and found himself faced with up to 50 years in a California jail cell.
Polish and French foreign ministers are both requesting that the U.S. pardon or abort its extradition of Polanski. Even the conservative former solidarity leader and president Lech Walensa was quoted urging the international community to forgive Polanski “if this is his only sin.”
It is expected of the French, but a bit incongruous coming from Poland, where one of the parliament members introducing the castration bill said of child sex offenders: “I don’t think you can call such individuals — such creatures — human beings. I don’t think you can talk about human rights in such a case.” Opinion polls show that about 84% of Poland supported the bill.
Poland’s bill mandates castration for offenders convicted of sex with children under 15 years of age — e.g. Polanski. Californian state law mandates it for first time offenders against children under 13, so it could not be applied to his case. If the new Polish law can be applied retroactively, maybe Mr. Polanski would be wise to hedge his bets in Chino.
So, explain to me how it is that the U.S. was able to have this guy arrested in Switzerland? Switzerland of all places!!! Anne Applebaum -who is a goddess of all things European – blogged about this today and said it’s kinda creepy that Switzerland would go along with this.
I agree.
I could imagine something like this under Bush, but under Obama? Why did he order this? Is he going to start arresting Americans at home? I dated someone younger than me once, am I going to be arrested? Where does this end?
I hope Glenn Beck gets a hold of this. he Constitution doesn’t allow for this kind of thing, what was Switzerland thinking? Why did they violate the Bill of Rights? They think the law doesn’t apply to them?
As for the Poles, chemical castration? Psh. Save the chemicals. Go green and just use a hacksaw.
Anne Applebaum happens also to be the wife of Radoslaw Sikorski, the foreign minister of Poland who said this morning:
“I am considering approaching the American authorities over the possibility of the U.S. president proclaiming an act of clemency, which would settle the matter once and for all.”
Wow, I can’t believe he would care that much. Why is Poland even involved in this? Shouldn’t France be the one to request clemency?
But don’t think for a minute that Obama is going to march out and give clemency to a man who drugged and raped a 13 year old.
The crackpots on the right a la Glenn Beck would have a field day with it.
Sorry Radoslaw. Plus, does anyone in Washington even care what Warsaw has to say?
And talk about a power couple — Applebaum and Radoslaw. I’d like to have them over for dinner sometime.
How again would Polanski, a French citizen, wind up in Polish jail for a crime he committed in America? And even if he did, since when is it against Polish law to commit a crime in California? If you ask me, Poland should subsidize crime in Southern California.
billy, how could that happen? The UN. They have a special international court and international “law.” If they decide they want to imprison an American, they’ll just do it.
Good point. I think Ron Paul has the right idea about the UN.
Cmccleskey, that’s an interesting point – you know what you are talking about. Billy bats, eh, not so much. And freedomidiot809, go back to your trailer.
In all seriousness — it will be interesting to see how Obama reacts to these requests. But I still don’t understand why Poland is involved. Can someone explain that to me?
Polanski has dual citizenship with France and Poland. He has been living in France (which does not extradite citizens), but could in theory go to Poland. I think the author was implying a certain discrepancy between the Polish government’s policy and actions.
Also, “chemical castration” is simply a periodic injection of birth control to reduce the sex drive. It has no long-term effects. Better than jail? I’d say so.
LOL. No one has got the point the ‘wmscrieber’ is making in the article. The Polish ministers and goverment want Free a powerful guy with connections who raped a child but on the other hand are happy to castrate a ‘no-body’ Polish citizen for the same crime. Double Standards! Maybe they are trying to get laws through to ensure they themselves are always absolved for anything they care to indulge in.
8stwvX Good point. I hadn’t thought about it quite that way.