Roman Polanski Attorney Denies Woman’s Charge That He Raped Her In 1975
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UPDATE: Roman Polanski’s French attorney, Hervé Témime, has issued a statement saying that the film director “most firmly contests the accusation of rape” that was raised by Valentine Monnier.
On Friday, Monnier told the French publication Le Parisien that the alleged sexual assault by Polanski was “extremely violent” and that it occurred after a ski run. The alleged incident occured at a chalet in Gstaad, Switzerland in 1975. That nation has a 20-year statute of limitations on rape.
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In a letter sent to media, Témime said Polanski “will not participate in the media trial, and me neither.” He added that the allegation stems from “facts that are 45 years old. Never has this accusation been brought to Polanski’s knowledge, and neither to a judicial institution, except for a letter sent to the California prosecutor two years ago, according to Le Parisien.”
Polanski has a new film, An Officer and a Spy, set for release in France this week. He has been living in France since fleeing the US in 1978 before sentencing after pleading guilty to having sex with a 13-year-old girl. Polanski had refused to return to face the court system.
EARLIER: A French woman is accusing director Roman Polanski of raping her at his Swiss chalet in 1975, when she was 18 years old.
Valentine Monnier told the French publication Le Parisien that the sexual assault was “extremely violent” and that it occurred after a ski run.
“The reaction time is not worth forgetting,” she told the paper. “Rape is a time bomb.”
Monnier said that after the Harvey Weinstein scandal, she wrote to the Los Angeles police and to Brigitte Macron, the French first lady.
Polanski’s attorney could not immediately be reached. But Hervé Temime told The Guardian that the Oscar-winning filmmaker “firmly denies all accusations of rape” and noted that the allegations “which date back 45 years have never been reported to judicial authorities.”
Monnier claimed that the sexual assault occurred after a ski outing and having dinner at a restaurant. She said that they went back to his chalet and that she went to a room to change. “Life hadn’t taught me how to be suspicious yet,” she told the French paper. When Polanski called for her, he threw himself on her, hit her, ripped off her clothes, tried to make her swallow a pill and then raped her, she said. Afterward, Polanski apologized, she said.
Monnier also said that she told her best friend about what happened, and then told someone who later would become her boyfriend. According to Le Parisien, they both recalled her telling them of the attack. She also confided in her husband in 1993.
Polanski, 86, is about the see the release of his latest movie, J’Accuse, about the Alfred Dreyfus affair. He has not returned to the U.S. since 1978, when he pleaded guilty to statutory rape. He left the U.S. before sentencing.
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