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Polanski legal team say Swiss need files unsealed

Roman Polanski’s legal team have asked a judge to open a sealed dossier, hoping it will help their fight against the director’s extradition to the United States.

This content was published on April 30, 2010 - 13:39

Swiss authorities on Friday, however, said the dossier is irrelevant to their decision on whether to send Polanski back.

According to Polanski’s lawyers, the dossier contains transcripts of testimony by retired US Deputy District Attorney Roger Gunson that would prove the extradition request is based on false and incomplete statements by the Los Angeles district attorney's office.

Swiss Justice Office spokesman Folco Galli said that does not matter because the justice ministry must work on the assumption that the extradition request is based on correct statements.

The French-Polish filmmaker is currently under house arrest at his chalet in the resort town of Gstaad. He was taken into custody on September 26, 2009, in Zurich while on his way to a film festival there.

The 76-year-old Oscar winner and director of movies like “Chinatown” and “Rosemary’s Baby” is wanted in Los Angeles for sentencing in a child-sex case that began in 1977.

Last week, a California judge denied a request to sentence Polanski in absentia, clearing the way for him to be returned to the US. Swiss officials have been waiting for the California proceedings to end before moving the case forward themselves.

swissinfo.ch and agencies

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In compliance with the JTI standards

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