Authorities detained Oscar-winning movie director Paul Haggis on Sunday in reference to allegations that he sexually assaulted a lady in southern Italy, Italian information media stated, quoting native prosecutors.
The Canadian-born Haggis, 69, has been in Italy for a movie competition that begins on Tuesday in Ostuni, a vacationer city in Puglia, the area that kinds the “heel” of the Italian peninsula.
An lawyer for Haggis, Priya Chaudhry, issued an announcement declaring the director “completely harmless”.
“Beneath Italian legislation, I can't focus on the proof,” Chaudhry stated. “That stated, I'm assured that each one allegations shall be dismissed towards Mr Haggis. He's completely harmless, and prepared to totally cooperate with the authorities so the reality comes out shortly.”
A press release from the movie fest to the outlet Selection stated organizers had “realized with dismay and shock the information that Paul Haggis is in custody for alleged violence”.
The fest’s administrators “instantly proceeded to take away any
participation of the director from the occasion” and “on the similar time,
they specific full solidarity with the girl concerned”, their assertion added.
Haggis is a director, producer and screenwriter. He gained an Oscar in 2006 for greatest authentic screenplay for Crash. He subsequently wrote screenplays for Million Greenback Child, the James Bond installments Quantum of Solace and On line casino Royale, in addition to directing Within the Valley of Elah and The Subsequent Three Days.
He was beforehand a outstanding Scientologist and has written about his strategy of escaping the group.
The information company LaPresse and a number of other different Italian media carried a written assertion from prosecutors within the close by metropolis of Brindisi that they have been investigating allegations involving a “younger overseas lady” who was pressured to have “non-consensual” sexual relations over two days.
Prosecutors Antonio Negro and Livia Orlando, who're conducting the investigation, stated within the assertion that the girl was “pressured to hunt medical care” after the sexual relations. After a few days “of non-consensual relations, the girl was accompanied by the person” to Brindisi airport on Sunday and “was left there at daybreak regardless of (her) precarious bodily and psychological situations”.
The Brindisi prosecutors’ workplace was reportedly closed on Sunday. Haggis’s lawyer didn’t instantly reply to information companies’ request for remark.
The prosecutors stated airport workers and police observed her clearly “confused state” and – after lending preliminary remedy – took her to Brindisi’s police headquarters. Officers there accompanied her to an area hospital for examination.
It wasn’t instantly clear whether or not Haggis was being held on the police station, at a resort or different lodging.
Italian prosecutors additionally have been quoted as saying that the girl “formalized her grievance and cited circumstances which have been subsequently appeared into for affirmation by investigators”. They didn’t cite her nationality or age.
Paul Haggis was beforehand accused within the US of sexual misconduct by 4 girls, together with two allegations of rape, in 2018. In that case, which has but to return to courtroom, the director was initially the topic of a lawsuit from a publicist who claimed he raped her. Three different girls have come ahead with accusations.
Publicist Haleigh Breest accused Haggis of “a stunning and egregious case of rape and sexual assault” that occurred in 2013. Haggis filed a countersuit claiming that the lawsuit was “extortion”, a $9m try to get cash from him. The three subsequent accusers haven't revealed their identities.
Haggis’s authorized workforce denied any accusations, arguing that “he didn’t rape anyone”.
In an interview with the Guardian about sexual harassment in Hollywood, Haggis referred to it as a “pretty sexist” city.
“Lots of people are compromised by Harvey’s alleged actions,” he stated. “Though everybody thinks it's vile conduct, you've got to concentrate on those that might have colluded and guarded him.”
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