In a move desiged to convince Swiss authorities not to extradite Roman Polanski to the USA his lawyers set up requests for Swiss authorities to see sealed documents relating to Polanski’s sex crimes and a judge’s comments on the case. Their hope is that if they can demonstrate that the trial in California was originally mishandled by the judge there then grounds for extradition will be removed. This is not the case of course.
The grounds for the extradition of Polanski rest upon the fact that his crimes were committed in the State of California in the United States of America which is a jurisdiction that Switzerland recognizes for mutual extradition agreements. The soundness of the case against Polanski or any demonstrable bias on the part of a particular Californian judge is not relevant in deciding jurisdictional precedence. Showing the Swiss court that there might have been an irresponsible judge involved in the Polanski case does not reduce the State of California’s right to try Polanski nor does it reduce the responsibility of Switzerland to extradite the rapist.