Polanski Free, Swiss Reject US Extradition Request

Bern, Switzerland - Roman Polanski was declared a free man in Switzerland on Monday rejected a U.S. request to him to be convicted of having sex for 1977 with a 13-year-old girl.
Swiss government accused the U.S. authorities about the decision, saying they could not solve the defense arguments that 76-year-old filmmaker was, in fact, serve his sentence before fleeing Los Angeles three decades ago.
Nine months after the arrest Polanski, the Swiss Justice Ministry said U.S. officials should be backed up their request, providing confidential testimony about Polanski's sentencing procedure in Los Angeles
"Mr. Polanski can now move freely," Justice Minister Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf said. "He was a free man.

Stunning decision that could end the United States for a long pursuit of Polanski. France, where he spent much of his time, not to its own citizens and Polanski is very little trouble traveling throughout Europe - even if he stayed away from Britain.
U.S. will not appeal the decision, but Polanski still passing in the United States.
"It remains the basis for the famous" Los Angeles superior court spokesman Allan Parachini adding that Polanski can be arrested and sent back to the United States, if he left for another country that has a surrender deal with the United States.
The U.S. Justice Department declined to comment on its next steps.
Switzerland's decision was praised by senior government officials in France and Poland, where Polanski has dual citizenship. But criticism of groups representing victims of sexual violence.
Which Oscar-winning director of "rosemary's Baby», «Chinatown» and pianist "was accused of plying his victim with champagne, and that part of the 1977 Quaalude modeling shoot and raping her. He was initially charged with six felony counts, including rape by use of drugs, child molesting and sodomy, but pleaded guilty to one count of illegal sex.
Instead, the judge agreed to leave the remaining charges and sentence him to prison for 90 days of psychiatric assessment. However, he has been released after 42 days which is considered by the evaluator his intellectual voice and is most likely to offend again. The judge replied that he was going to send Polanski to return to the remaining 90 days in prison, and that afterward he asked Polanski to reach an agreement on "voluntary deportation. Polanski fled the country on the eve of his February 1, 1978, sentencing.
Swiss government's main argument concerned the secret testimony given on January 26 by Roger Gunson, the lawyer for the Los Angeles prosecutor's office against the original responsibility Polanski. Swiss requested a copy, but Washington refused the request.
Gunson links based on the evidence of U.S. courts, the Swiss said that he "must prove" that Polanski served his sentence after undergoing diagnostic study.
"If this is the case, Roman Polanski, that, in fact, has already served his sentence and, therefore, as the proceedings, which the U.S. extradition request and the request is founded, he is no foundation," the ministry said.
Ministry of Justice announced its decision reflected the spirit of the law, as U.S. authorities do not pursue Polanski in Switzerland before, although he often visited the country and bought a house here in 2006. It also cited the wishes of victim, Samantha Geimer, who is a long time to publicly recognize him and joined Polanski's proposal for dismissal.
Polanski's electric monitoring bracelet was removed, the government said, but it is not clear if he has already left the confines of his house and garden for the first time since being placed under house arrest in December to $ 4.5 million bail.
A woman who answered the door said, Polanski left. Director of the France-based lawyer, Herve Temime, told Associated Press in a telephone conversation with his office in Paris that his client was still in his closet, but now is ready to take advantage of its freedom.

Return seemed to confirm was that the likeliest scenario after Polanski was arrested on September 26 when he arrived in Zurich to receive lifetime achievement award from a film festival. Polanski was also affected by a number of legal setbacks this year in California courts, and Switzerland only rejects about 5 percent, 200 requests for extradition that handles annually.
"This decision was certainly not expected», Temime said, praising the Swiss authorities responsible for decision making.
Peter Cosandey, the former Zurich prosecutor, said the full evidence does not rule, are required to surrender decisions. But in this case, may be different because of Polanski's confounded sentencing order, he said.
"We do not know in Switzerland, and that's why the government is trying to Transcript of Gunson», Cosandey said. "The extraditions, there are formalities that must be made. One, whether the person has already served his sentence.
Widmer-Schlumpf said this decision was not absolve Polanski's crime, saying the issue was "not decided whether he is guilty or not guilty."
The Government said was to be rejected by "taking into account the persisting doubts about the facts of the case presentation.
Beyond the legal confusion, Polanski's delivery was difficult, and diplomatically sensitive because of Polanski's status as a cultural icon of France and Poland, and his history as a Holocaust survivor, whose first wife was murdered by the crazed followers of cult leader Charles Manson in California.
Widmer-Schlumpf said she hoped the decision would harm Washington's relations with Switzerland. The two countries bickered over the last few years the rich hiding their money out of Americans biggest Swiss bank, UBS AG, but they have also cooperated on resettling prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
"These three quite different cases that needs to be treated completely differently,« Widmer-Schlump said.

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