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Oscar-Winning Screenwriter Arrested: Paul Haggis detained in Italy & accused of sexually assaulting woman
Paul Haggis
Canadian screenwriter and director Paul Haggis has been arrested in the southern Italian town of Ostuni and charged with sexual assault and causing aggravated injury to an unidentified woman. Haggis, whose work on ‘Crash’ and ‘Million Dollar Baby’ earned him two academy awards, has already been accused of rape and sexual misconduct by multiple women.
According to Italian press reports cited by Variety, Haggis was arrested on Sunday while in Ostini for an upcoming film festival. Italian journalist Silvia Bizio, who is organizing the festival, confirmed to Variety that the Canadian director had been arrested, and that the festival would be “completely taking its distance” from him.
The alleged victim was described by prosecutors in the nearby city of Brindisi as “foreign,” or non-Italian. According to a police report cited by Variety, Haggis raped the woman before driving her to Papola Casale airport and leaving her there in “precarious physical and psychological conditions.”
