[Guest post by DRJ]
The Swiss are preparing to release Roman Polanski to house arrest and the details of his release are filtering out:
“A Swiss justice officials was quoted by AFP and Swiss news media as saying Polanski would be allowed to make unlimited phone calls and have full access to e-mail and the Internet. Although he cannot leave his house, he can invite friends over and throw parties at the tony chalet in the ski resort of Gstaad.
“He will have no prison regime,” Justice Ministry spokesman Falco Galli told AFP. “He is completely free to determine his daily schedule. It’s also up to him to get in food and other supplies.”
Police in Gstaad said they might block traffic and restrict access into Polanski’s neighborhood if reporters proved disruptive.”
Polanski will have electronic monitoring and his phone calls will also be monitored. Maybe they will listen in if Polanski decides to thank French President Nicolas Sarkozy for securing Polanski’s release:
“Roman Polanski’s family yesterday praised the role played by Nicolas Sarkozy in securing the film director’s release on bail after two months in a Swiss prison.
The French President “has been very effective” behind the scenes, according to the film director’s sister-in-law Mathilde Seigner, as Mr Polanski prepared to move from a cell to house arrest in his luxury chalet in the exclusive Alpine village of Gstaad.
Ms Seigner refused to elaborate on the nature of Mr Sarkozy’s assistance but the President may have been influenced by his wife Carla Bruni’s own connections with the chic Parisian artisic set to which Mr Polanski, his actress wife Emmanuelle Seigner and her sister all belong.”
The Swiss are reportedly concerned that Polanski, a “first rate skier,” might ski over the border “via a mountain pass into his adopted French homeland and escape US justice a second time.” As a result, they’ve ordered that Polanski turn in his passport, install a surveillance system in his chalet, and wear an electronic bracelet. However:
“While the bracelet will help police to monitor if Mr Polanski is staying put at his chalet during his house arrest, experts said that if he fled, the set-up was not equipped with global positioning system and would therefore not help to track him down.
“The canton of Bern uses the first generation system ,” said Jonas Peter Weber, a professor at the University of Bern.
“We can only check if the person is at home. If the alarm goes off and no police is in the vicinity, the person will be able to flee,” he said.”
Maybe reporters will stay interested in Polanski’s case and he will need a full-time police presence.
— DRJ