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LOS ANGELES, May 7 — Prosecutors in the sex crime case of Roman Polanski said yesterday they oppose a defence request seeking the release of documents the film director’s lawyers say would aid his fight against extradition.

Los Angeles Deputy District Attorney David Walgren said similar requests have been denied three previous times.

“The defendant ... obviously running out of options to avoid extradition, makes completely baseless and reckless allegations apparently orchestrated as part of a public relations campaign, rather than being premised on any legal or factual foundation,” Walgren wrote in his court filing.

Last week, Polanski’s California attorneys asked the court to release sealed transcripts of a deposition by a former Los Angeles prosecutor. The lawyers argued that those transcripts will prove the request to bring him back to the United States was based “upon false and materially incomplete statements.”

A judge is expected to hear arguments in the case on Monday.

Polanski, 76, is under house arrest in Switzerland waiting to learn if officials there will return him to Los Angeles to face sentencing in the more than 30-year-old sex crime.

In 1977, the director of “Rosemary’s Baby” pleaded guilty to having unlawful sex with a 13-year-old girl in Los Angeles, but he fled the United States in 1978 when he believed the judge, who has since died, would sentence him to more time in jail than he had already served. — Reuters

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