Oscar winning film director Roman Polanski is now a free man. More than 30 years ago Roman plead guilty to having sex with 13-year-old Samantha Gailey Geimer. He has been detained by Swiss authorities since September 2009. Because of a flaw in the system, he will not be extradited back to the United States for sentencing.
The Swiss government has made the decision to deny a United States extradition request for Polanski. Today the Justice Ministry stated: “National interests were taken into consideration in the decision, and Polanski is now a free man.”
After pleading guilty in 1978, Polanski fled to France to avoid sentencing. He was captured in Zurich last year when he arrived to accept a lifetime achievement award.
The 76-year-old was jailed and later held on house arrest for nearly 10 months while the U.S. tried to arrange his extradition back to Los Angeles to answer charges related to his earlier case.
Polanski is no longer on house arrest and may do as he pleases. As long as he doesn’t set foot back in the U.S., and stays away from other countries that might be willing to extradite, he shouldn’t have to deal with the unpleasantness of his past again.
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