Roman Polanski Arrested in Switzerland

The long arm of the law finally caught up to this bum after 31 years. A shame they didn't pick up fugitive Clinton pal Marc Rich while they were at it.

Roman Polanski was arrested by Swiss police at the request of U.S. authorities as the director arrived in the country to receive an award at the Zurich Film Festival.

Polanski was held yesterday on a 1978 U.S. arrest warrant, the festival organizers said today in an e-mailed statement. The arrest was confirmed by Zurich Cantonal Police spokesman Stefan Oberlin in a telephone interview.

Oberlin wouldn’t comment further on the arrest, referring questions to the Justice Ministry in the capital, Bern. The ministry couldn’t be reached immediately for comment.

Polanski, 76, left the U.S. in 1978 prior to being sentenced for having sex with a 13-year-old girl. He hasn’t returned since and is considered a fugitive in the country. The director, a French citizen, asked a Los Angeles court in December to dismiss the 1977 case because of judicial and prosecutorial misconduct.

California Superior Court Judge Peter Espinoza, who said in February that Polanski would have to come to the U.S. to get a hearing on his request, invoked the fugitive disentitlement doctrine to avoid any consideration of the facts and circumstances that forced the director to leave the country, Polanski’s lawyers said July 7 in a court filing.

A special ceremony will be held at the Zurich festival tonight “to allow everyone to express their solidarity for Roman Polanski and their admiration for his work,” the festival management said in their e-mail.

Figures these twits would admire a child molester.