The officials said that the denial of access to the information was the key factor in the refusal to extradite the film maker to the US, according to the letter to the US Embassy in Bern, Switzerland. A district attorney's spokeswoman said their office was never notified of the Swiss request and did not know that the Justice Department had turned it down. The letter dated Monday was obtained by The Associated Press Wednesday night. It provided a time line of when the request was filed and when it was turned down. The letter blamed the denial of extradition solidly on the refusal by the Justice Department to show them transcripts of testimony by the film director's original prosecutor.
"Since the additional documents requested were not transmitted in full, extradition of Roman Polanski to the United States of America is thus denied," said the letter. Justice Department spokeswoman Laura Sweeney said she had no comment on the matter. The Swiss said that they wanted to know whether Polanski, who was being held in a 33-year-old sex case, had already served his sentence.
