I don't get this

I don't usually get caught up in things like this, but last night I was watching Nightline—admittedly with one eye and ear, as I was sort of working—and there was this bit about Roman Polanski being arrested in Switzerland.  They had an old interview with him in which he said he made a huge mistake in raping a 13 year-old more than thirty years ago, and he realizes this now.  And then they had a couple of celebrities on who wanted him to be set free in Switzerland.  I don't even remember...