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Polanski to Sue Via Videolink in Legal Landmark
Thu February 10, 2005 8:36 AM GMT-05:00
By Mike Collett-White
LONDON (Reuters) - Legal precedent will be set when film director Roman Polanski gives evidence in an English court via videolink from a Paris hotel room in order to avoid the risk of extradition to the United States for a child sex offence.
England's highest court ruled on Thursday the 71-year-old should be allowed to sue the publishers of U.S. magazine Vanity Fair for libel from the safety of France.
Polanski's lawyers say it will be the first time a libel claimant has given evidence at his trial via video link.
In a decision that surprised legal experts, the Law Lords overturned an earlier ruling by the Court of Appeal that Polanski should live by the "normal processes of the law" and come to England to take the witness stand.
Polanski's legal team at the House of Lords said the decision will be widely interpreted as the next step toward the "virtual trial."
"I am happy and relieved with the House of Lords judgement today," Polanski said in a statement issued through his lawyers. "I feel very strongly about the allegations published about me, which cannot remain uncorrected."
Vanity Fair publishers Conde Nast said they would pursue the case despite the 3-2 majority decision.
"The ruling does not affect the substance of the case, which is likely to be heard in several months' time and which is being vigorously defended by Vanity Fair."
Polanski has issued libel proceedings against Conde Nast.
According to opinions of the Law Lords made public on Thursday, a Vanity Fair article in 2002 said Polanski propositioned a woman in a New York restaurant when he stopped there on the way to the funeral of his actress wife, Sharon Tate, who was murdered in 1969.
In fact, both sides in the case now accept that Polanski was not at the restaurant en route to the funeral, but was there within weeks of the murder. He denies the reported incident.
"Our case is that this incident never happened at all," his solicitors said.
Polanski's lawyers said actress Mia Farrow, who was with Polanski in the restaurant when the alleged incident reported by Vanity Fair took place, may also testify.
ON THE RUN
Oscar winner Polanski has been wanted in the United States since 1977 after pleading guilty to having sex with a 13-year-old girl. He then fled the United States for France and has never been back to the United States or Britain.
If he comes to Britain to pursue his libel action he faces possible extradition to the United States. He cannot be extradited from his native France for the crime.
Polanski could have pursued the case in France, although the time period in which libel action has to be initiated there is three months, lawyers say, compared with one year in England.
The Court of Appeal ruled in November 2003 that Polanski should not be allowed to give evidence via video link from Paris since this would be allowing him to use judicial process when it suited him, but avoid it when it did not.
As one lawyer put it during the appeal, "access to justice is ... only a Eurostar journey away," referring to the train linking Britain and France.
Lawyers for Polanski and Conde Nast said they expected the trial to come to court in the coming months, possibly May or June.
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A poet and philosopher, Mr. Marcus is married and is a proud parent.
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