30 years ago, Roman Polanski was in Los Angeles awaiting sentencing after he was convicted of six felony counts related to drugging and raping a 13-year-old girl. Instead of waiting it out and receiving his sentence, he fled the country, and had lived in exile in Europe until two weeks ago, when Swiss officials arrested him based on extradition requests from the United States.
So you can't blame Switzerland, really, for assessing that Polanski presents a "high risk of flight" as he awaits extradition, and deciding to keep him in prison there while they wait for the U.S. government to formally request extradition. That's right-- The AP reports that Washington hasn't actually sent over the paperwork asking them to send Polanski back, despite the fact that the case is the only thing anyone in this country wants to talk about besides health care and Kate Gosselin.
None of this really changes the key details of Polanski's case-- he's still awaiting extradition and probably trial in the United States, and that's when the media circus is really going to kick into high gear. Mostly it's hilarious that Polanski tried to argue that he didn't present a flight risk, since if there's a single thing he's known for more than Chinatown and Rosemary's Baby, it's that.
