Wednesday, September 23, 2015

Roman Polanski: Poland; Ruling on U.S. extradition application expected on October 30: Polanski is 82. Rape charges date back to 1977; AFP reports that: "his legal team presented new documents, expert analyses and witness statements from Polanski's earlier trials in the United States and Switzerland."..."Polanski, who became a French citizen in 1976 after moving to France from Poland, is currently working on a new film about France's Dreyfus Affair. The case featured an army captain wrongly convicted in 1894 of espionage and treason whose ordeal has become a symbol of injustice and anti-Semitism."

Countdown to Wrongful Conviction Day:  Friday, October 2,  2105;  9 days. For information: http://www.aidwyc.org/wcd-2015/

"A Polish court will probably decide on October 30 whether to extradite Oscar-winning director Roman Polanski to the United States to face charges of raping a 13-year-old girl in 1977, his lawyer said Tuesday. "We're almost there. There's a good chance it will happen then. The judge mentioned it himself," Polanski's lawyer Jerzy Stachowicz told AFP. The 82-year-old French-Polish fugitive was in court on Tuesday as his legal team presented new documents, expert analyses and witness statements from Polanski's earlier trials in the United States and Switzerland. The United States filed the extradition request in January. The director of "The Pianist", "Chinatown" and "Rosemary's Baby" faces sentencing there for raping Samantha Geimer after a photo shoot in Los Angeles when he was 43. He pleaded guilty at the time to unlawful sex with a minor, or statutory rape, avoiding a trial, but then fled the country fearing a hefty sentence. He now lives in France. US officials have regularly pressed for his extradition, to no avail.........Polanski, who became a French citizen in 1976 after moving to France from Poland, is currently working on a new film about France's Dreyfus Affair. The case featured an army captain wrongly convicted in 1894 of espionage and treason whose ordeal has become a symbol of injustice and anti-Semitism. Geimer wrote a book about her encounter with Polanski in 2013, in which she said she was made to drink champagne and was given a sleeping pill before being raped by Polanski in the house of actor Jack Nicholson. The mother-of-three wrote in "The Girl: A Life Lived in the Shadow of Roman Polanski" that she harbours no hate for Polanski and has forgiven him."
http://www.france24.com/en/20150922-polanski-extradition-ruling-likely-october-30