Polanski under house arrest
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(ABC's Cokie Roberts On Roman Polanski: "Take Him Out And Shoot Him" - 10/04/09.)
Roman Polanski free but has to wear a tag while on house arrest at Swiss chalet
Roman Polanski has been freed from jail and placed under house arrest while a decision is made on whether to extradite him to the U.S. on child sex charges.
The Oscar-winning film director, 76, arrived at his luxury holiday home in Gstaad today, Swiss officials said. His £2.7million bail agreement stipulates he must permanently wear an electronic tag and cannot leave the property.
The director of films including Chinatown and The Pianist was released from jail in Winterthur on Thursday.
A statement from the Swiss Justice Ministry yesterday read: 'Roman Polanski's house has also been fitted with an electronic monitoring system that is now active.
'The permanent electronic tagging technology will trigger an alarm if Polanski leaves the house or removes the tagging bracelet.
'Should Polanski violate the terms of his release, bail will be forfeited to the Swiss Confederation.'
Polanski fled the U.S. in 1978 after admitting unlawful sex with an underage girl. He has been in custody since his arrest in Zurich three months ago.
Polanski's arrival home saw him welcomed by a loyal wife and a swarm of police and security guards.
Yesterday, officials claimed they were trying to prevent media attention by moving Polanski from a Zurich jail to an undisclosed location before the transfer.
Then, however, they informed the press that he was expected to be taken to his chalet in the luxury resort of Gstaad on Friday afternoon.
A private security guard took up watch at the house last night. Polanski's wife, Emmanuelle Seigner, watched the media through the windows this morning.
Polanski won't be allowed to leave his house while Switzerland decides whether to extradite him to the U.S. for having sex in 1977 with a 13-year-old girl.
He will have to wear an electronic monitoring bracelet. The main condition of his house arrest is that he is posting £2.7million in bail.
The director of such film classics as 'Rosemary's Baby', 'Chinatown' and 'The Pianist' has been in Swiss custody since being arrested September 26 on a U.S. warrant as he arrived in Zurich to receive a lifetime achievement award at a film festival.
Authorities in Los Angeles want him returned to be sentenced after 31 years as a fugitive.
Polanski was initially accused of raping the girl after plying her with champagne and a Quaalude pill during a modeling shoot.
He was indicted on six felony counts, including rape by use of drugs, child molestation and sodomy, but he pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of unlawful sexual intercourse.
In exchange, the judge agreed to drop the remaining charges and sent him to prison for a 90-day psychiatric evaluation.
The evaluator released Polanski after 42 days, but the judge said he was going to send him back to serve out the 90 days.
The filmmaker fled the U.S. on February 1, 1978, the day he was to be formally sentenced. He has lived since then in France, which does not extradite its citizens.
Polanski claims that the U.S. judge and prosecutors acted improperly in his case.
His attorneys will argue before a California appeals court in December that the charges should be dismissed.
Roman Polanski's release secured by Nicolas Sarkozy: Sister-in-law
Polish director Roman Polanski’s family is thanking French President Nicolas Sarkozy for being “very effective” in helping to win his release from a Swiss prison.
“I wouldn’t go so far as to say that it is thanks to the President that Roman has been freed, but he has been super,” Polanski’s sister-in-law, Mathilde Seigner, told Le Parisien newspaper. “The President has been very effective.”
The London Times speculated that Sarkozy’s wife, ex-model Carla Bruni, may have pressured her husband to intervene because she used to hob nob with Paris’ artistic community, which includes Polanski and wife Emmanuelle Seigner.
After initially balking at his release, Swiss authorities agreed to let Polanski move from a cell to his luxurious Alpine chalet once he puts up $4.5 million bail.
A bracelet will allow police to monitor Polanski , but the device does not include a global positioning system to track him should he escape.
“We can only check if the person is at home," Jonas Peter Weber, a professor at the University of Bern, told the Times. "If the alarm goes off and no police is in the vicinity, the person will be able to flee.”
Sarkozy was first criticized for supporting Polanski in October. He expressed outrage after the director was arrested at a Zurich airport on a U.S. warrant from 1977 for having sex with a 13-year-old girl.
After Polanski fled the U.S. before his sentencing, he set up shop in France where his citizenship protected him from being extradited to the U.S. He was arrested in Switzerland when he traveled there to accept an award.
Though the U.S. has asked for Switzerland to extradite Polanski, Swiss authorities have not said whether they will.
Meanwhile, Polanski's lawyers in the U.S. will attempt to have his case dismissed for good on Dec. 10.
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Sources: Daily Mail, MSNBC, NY Daily News, ABC News, Smoking Gun, La Late, Youtube, Google Maps
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