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opinion

Roman Polanski is one of the greatest film directors of the 20th century. He is an Oscar winner and a true artist of the cinema. But he is also a convicted child molester who, in 1978, fled the United States before being sentenced, spending his subsequent life as a fugitive from the California justice system in a country, France, that refuses to extradite him. Now that he has finally been arrested in Switzerland and will likely be sent back to Los Angeles to face the court he fled, there are those who argue his standing as an artist and the 31-year delay should exempt him from such a fate. But they should not.

France is predictably leading the charge to have Mr. Polanski released, its culture minister resorting to rote anti-Americanisms about the "scary" side of the United States and speculating brazenly about conspiracies. Hollywood royalty are uniting in the director's defence, as are officials in his home country of Poland.

There is no conspiracy. This is about a man who, in 1977, drugged and raped a 13-year-old girl both vaginally and anally. Arrested and charged with a number of crimes, Mr. Polanski pleaded guilty to a single, lesser charge in exchange for a light sentence. He also spent 42 days in a California prison undergoing a court-ordered psychiatric evaluation.

And then he fled the country. A 2008 documentary film about the case unearthed evidence that the judge, a notorious publicity seeker, was planning to renege on the plea bargain and throw the book at Mr. Polanski, prompting him to hop a plane to England and then France. The same film also uncovered misconduct by an L.A. prosecutor who may have coached the judge.

None of this changes anything, though. Justice is a simple thing. Convicted criminals - and Mr. Polanski's conviction is watertight - are sentenced and do their time. Those who flee are fugitives. The timing and circumstances of their later rearrest, if it comes, are irrelevant in the face of the larger fact of their guilt and the need for justice to be done. Would France, Poland and the Hollywood elite defend a child molester who wasn't burnished by celebrity, who hadn't won an Oscar?

As for the 30 intervening years, those are only there as a consequence of Mr. Polanski's decision to flee to France. The time passed may serve in his favour, given the revelations that have come to light about the original trial. But Mr. Polanski cannot be allowed to clear his name by waiting out the justice system, and by impressing film critics. He needs to be returned to the scene of his crime and finish what he alone started. An honourable man would have voluntarily done so a long time ago.

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