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In Italy, an Oscar-winning director was arrested on Sunday in connection with allegations of sexually assaulting a woman in the southern part of the country, according to Italian media.
He has also been accused of serious injuries to an unidentified woman who has been charged. Academy Award-winning Canadian screenwriter and director Paul Haggis, 69, is currently in custody until the investigation is conducted, the Guardian reported.
According to several Italian reports and letters from prosecutors, Haggis has been accused of forcing a young non-Italian woman to have sex in Ostuni for two days.
He will hold several master classes at Allora Fest, a new film event founded June 21-26 by Los Angeles-based Italian journalist Silvia Bizio and Spanish art critic Sol Costares Doulton. did.
The director of the fest added, “Immediately removed the director’s participation from the event” and “at the same time expressed full solidarity with the women involved.”
Not the first time
Paul Haggis was previously accused of sexual misconduct in the United States in 2018 by four women, including two alleged rapes.
In that case, although not yet heard in court, the director was originally sued by a spokeswoman who claimed to have raped her. The other three women make similar claims.
In 2013, spokeswoman Haley Brest accused Haggis of being “a shocking and terrible incident of rape and sexual assault,” Deadline reported.
Haggis has filed a counterclaim, alleging that the proceedings are an attempted “blackmail” that blackmails him $ 9 million. The identities of the three subsequent whistleblowers have not been revealed.
The Haggis legal team denied all allegations, claiming that “he did not rape anyone.”
Force oral sex
In 1996, Haggis asked a 28-year-old spokeswoman working on the television show he was producing to review a photo of the show in her office that night. “I thought it was weird at first, but I agreed.” “He was the ultimate boss,” the woman told The Associated Press.
The night Haggis arrived at the meeting, everyone else was out of the office. He insisted on speaking in the back office and began kissing her as they entered. “I was really fighting.” He asked me,’Do you really want to continue working?’, The woman told The Associated Press. “And he pushed himself against me.”
The woman claimed that Haggis forced her to have oral sex and then pushed her to the ground and raped her. After the encounter, the woman was traumatized and horrified and asked her friend to accompany her to work the next day. Her friend confirmed the story.
In italy
“Under Italian law, we cannot discuss evidence,” Haggis’ longtime private lawyer, Priya Chaudhry, said in a statement.
“That said, I’m convinced that all allegations against Mr. Haggis will be dismissed. The truth is immediately clear as he is completely innocent and willing to cooperate fully with the authorities. Will be. “
In a statement, Allora Fest said, “I learned with disappointment and shock at the news that Paul Haggis was detained on suspicion of violence.”
The post that the Academy Award-winning director was arrested for sexual assault was first published in The Independent News.
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