Polanski's arrest has shocked France - by Agnès Poirier
Roman Polanski, who hasn't set foot in Britain since 1978 for fear of extradition, was arrested yesterday in Zurich by the Swiss police for an assault he pleaded guilty to in 1977. The irony is that such an event, the kind he has dreaded for 32 years, should take place in a country where he owns a chalet and spends many weeks every year. The blow came unexpectedly; the news was a shock to many. A shock, not because the man is innocent (the case is summarised here) but because since last year, thanks to a remarkable American documentary by investigative film-maker Marina Zenovich called Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired, we now know that Roman Polanski was treated unfairly by the judge Laurence Rittenband and that he was the victim of gross misconduct from the Los Angeles court. Even the victim's lawyer implies at the end of the documentary that he would have done the same that Polanski did – jump bail and take the first plane to Paris to avoid a lengthier prison sentence. One detail of importance: by the time he fled the US, he had already served a short time in prison.
It is precisely in the light of the new evidence revealed by this documentary that Roman Polanski's lawyers asked the US justice department a few months ago for the case to be closed.
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