Director Paul Haggis was arrested Sunday on an investigation into allegations that he sexually assaulted a woman in southern Italy, Italian media reported, citing local prosecutors. The 69-year-old Canadian-born Oscar-winning Haggis was in Italy for a film festival starting Tuesday in Ostuni, a tourist town in Puglia, the “heel” of the Italian peninsula. The LaPresse news agency and several other Italian media outlets carried a written statement from prosecutors in the nearby town of Brindisi that they were investigating allegations that a “young foreigner” had been forced to have “non-consensual” sex for two days. Haggis’s lawyer, Priya Chaudhry, said that although he could not discuss the evidence under Italian law, “I am confident that all charges against Mr Haggis will be dropped. “It comes out fast.” Prosecutors Antonio Negro and Livia Orlando, who are conducting the investigation, said in a statement that the woman was “forced to seek medical attention” after having sex. After a few days of “non-consensual relations, the woman was accompanied by the man” at Brindisi airport on Sunday and “was left there in the early hours of the morning despite precarious physical and psychological conditions”. Brindisi’s prosecutor’s office closed on Sunday. Prosecutors said airport staff and police noticed her “apparently confused condition” and “after giving her initial treatment, they took her to Brindisi police headquarters, where police escorted her to a local hospital for examination.” Police in the headquarters’ operations room said they were not authorized to provide information about the case, including whether Haggis was being held at the police station or at a hotel or other accommodation. Haggis is a director, producer and screenwriter. Won the 2006 Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for “Crash.” Prosecutors also said the woman “formalized her complaint and cited circumstances that were then examined by investigators for confirmation.” They did not mention her nationality or age.
