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French officials and the film industry have reacted angrily to the arrest, in Switzerland, of filmmaker Roman Polanski on child sex charges.
Mr Polanski, who admitted to the anal rape of Samantha Gailey in 1977, had thought himself immune from prosecution after the charges turned 16 in 1993.
Supporters of Mr Polanski claim that he has already suffered enough after serving more than 30 years’ hard France.
French inmates, known as citoyens, are forced to subsist on a strict diet of baguettes and Perrier for many years before being released to a halfway house, such as Belgium.
Some have questioned the timing of the arrest, which suspiciously co-incided with a time during which he was in a country where he could be arrested.
Others say that to imprison the director of The Pianist and Chinatown would be to deprive the world of an important cinematic voice, but since he’s already made those films, what’s the problem?
Criminologists say that no punishment could be more fitting for Mr Polanski than incarceration in a place where the only films shown are PG-rated telemovies.
In France, Mr Polanski is seen as a hero for going 31 years without surrendering—a national record.
But if the French don’t appreciate the US attempting to remove one of their most high-profile paedophiles, the Los Angeles district attorney can always turn his attention to somewhere where an action like that would be appreciated, such as Quarry Road, North Ryde.
With extradition to the United States for sentencing now highly likely, it looks like Mr Polanski’s days on the run are numbered. And there certainly won’t be any non-consensual anal sex where he’s going.
Over 100 filmmakers have signed a petition circulating in France calling for Polanski’s release. The filmmakers drew attention to the fact that Polanski was arrested whilst travelling to a film festival, deploring that the arrest will stifle the artistic freedom of rapists.
The filmmakers also alluded darkly to the precedent set by the arrest—“it opens the way for actions of which no one can know the effects”. Indeed if the extradition takes place, we may soon live in a nightmarish dystopia where rapists are detained and punished within mere decades of commiting child sex offences.
