Polanski free, but still very much a fugitive from justice

Film director Roman Polanski can only feel free to travel in a handful of countries, although Swiss authorities have released from house arrest on July 12, turning down the extradition request by the US Department of Justice.

While it is true, as reported by Digital Journal, that Roman Polanski has been released from house arrest by the Swiss authorities, the film maker still faces the old warrant for his apprehension. The warrant, issued by Interpol, is in effect for 188 countries. While Polanski has made his first public appearance, visiting the Montreux Jazz Festival in order to watch his wife Emmanuelle Seigner perform, it seems that he should stay away from events such as the Venice Film Festival. The latter, being held in Italy, could be rather dangerous to him since Italian authorities are known to work closely with their American counterparts, and would likely go along with an American request to arrest and extradite Polanski. Yahoo News reports that three countries are the most safe for Polanski -- France, Poland and Switzerland -- although there are indications that neither Germany nor Austria feel inclined to arrest the man, although he actually has pleaded guilty to unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor. Considering that the whole world knows this plea to be a serious reduction of the original charges, part of the international community may still want to see justice done by sending Polanski to jail, celebrated director or not. So while Polanski's friends, fans a family celebrate the Swiss decision to free Polanski, just watch the growing list of articles on the Interpol website, there are others -- also in Switzerland -- who'd prefer justice to be equal for all without the addition "Some are a bit more equal," as the widely respected Neue Zuercher Zeitung newspaper wrote. That sentence, of course, paraphrases what George Orwell wrote in his Animal Farm (1945): "All pigs are equal, but some pigs are more equal than others."