Oscar-winning film director, Roman Polanski, has been detained by the Swiss police, due to 1978's US arrest warrant, for having sex with a 13-year old girl, 31 years ago , when he himself was 45 years old.
Click on the audio icon to listen to the report by Joanna Najfeld.
His arrest caused uproar in Poland. Polanski fled the US in 1978, when he was released on bail after admitting in court to unlawful sexual intercourse with a 13-year old girl and the possession of drugs.
Following Roman Polanski's arrest, voices of outrage were raised in Poland, especially among his colleague film makers, who demanded that Polish authorities support and defend Polanski. Government officials, too, seemed to express full support to Roman Polanski.
'I decided to contact the Foreign Ministry to mobilize them to act outside our country, in Switzerland, and to investigate what can be done on this matter,' said Culture Minister Bogdan Zdrojewski. Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski said that he will ask US authorities to pardon Polanski: 'Because of great merits of Roman Polanski to world culture but also to promoting Poland, as well as because of my personal relation to this great artist, I am considering asking US authorities to investigate the possibility of granting Roman Polanski the presidential pardon, which would close this case once and for all.'
Many commentators found these government declarations shocking, especially in the light of the relatively recent debate on the need to introduce stricter punishment for pedophiles.