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Roman Polanski, the Academy Award-winning director who's been on the lam for 31 years for raping a child, was arrested in Switzerland last Saturday.

Should U.S. courts let bygones be bygones for the brilliant filmmaker, or should Polanski, now 76, be extradited to the United States to stand trial in California?

At first glance, the Polanski case might seem like nothing more than juicy celebrity fodder for People magazine. But the case cast a far wider political and international net. France, Poland and several European nations are fiercely protesting his arrest at the airport en route to receive an award at the Zurich Film Festival. His supporters are reacting as if Polanski is an innocent victim yanked off the streets KGB-style.

On this side of the Atlantic, Polanski also has his defenders who say: "Let's move on; the rape happened three decades ago. The man is a brilliant filmmaker and geniuses often behave badly."

To which I say, "Baloney." Had Polanski not been a famous cinematic artist, he might have been extradited years ago to face justice.

But let's review the facts: Polanski was arrested in 1977 for drugging and raping a child. He was then a 45-year-old Hollywood director and his victim was a 13-year-old child.

Polanski told the child's mother he wanted to photograph her daughter for a French magazine. He took the child to a house borrowed from actor Jack Nicholson. There, Polanski gave her champagne and a sedative-like drug and photographed her naked in a hot tub. He then raped her while she begged him to stop.

Polanski pleaded guilty to having sex with a minor and giving her drugs. He reached a plea bargain whereby he would undergo psychiatric evaluation for a number of days. By any standard, the punishment was soft for an admitted rapist.

The judge refused to accept the plea bargain, and Polanski fled the country before his sentencing, fearing he would be imprisoned for years.

Since then, Polanski has become a citizen of France, making prize-winning films and living the good life. France has no extradition laws, unlike some European countries; so France was safe. He still had to choose carefully when traveling overseas, making sure the country he visited had no extradition treaty with the United States.

Switzerland does have such a law, but it had been ignored, enabling Polanski to travel there on several occasions. For reasons not entirely clear, the Los Angeles district attorney decided to push its fugitive warrant and pressure Swiss police to arrest him.

Polanski's arrest -- he remains in Switzerland as of this writing awaiting possible extradition -- has stirred protests and petitions from cultural and international officials. France's Foreign Minister Bernard Kushner said: "A man of such talent recognized in the entire world &ellipses; all this just isn't nice." Poland's Foreign Minister Raked Siloski wrote Secretary of State Hillary Clinton pleading for his release. (The State Department has "no comment.")

Even Washington Post columnist Anne Applebaum ardently embraced Polanski's cause. "He did commit a crime, but he has paid for his crime in many ways: In notoriety, in lawyers' fees, in professional stigma. He could not return to Los Angeles to receive his recent Oscar." Oh, dear. Poor suffering Polanski.

Polanski's rape victim -- now 45, married, the mother of three children and living in Hawaii -- is Samantha Geimer, who long ago publicly identified herself. Years ago she reached an out-of- court financial settlement with Polanski for an undisclosed sum of money. In 2003 she wrote that Polanski's deeds were "terrible &ellipses; but I don't really have any hard feelings toward him, or any sympathy either. He is a stranger to me." She's said she doesn't want him tried in America because it would harm her children.

All of the above somewhat complicates the case, but the fact remains that Polanski raped and drugged a child and then fled the country. Neither his celebrity, his advanced age nor his artistic brilliance should matter.

What matters is that he committed a terrible crime and has been a fugitive from justice ever since. His day of reckoning has finally arrived, and rightly so.

Rosemary Roberts writes a column in the News & Record on alternate Fridays. E-mail: Rmroberts@triad.rr.com