Italian judges have rejected a state prosecutor’s request to re-appear Canadian director Paul Haggis while an investigation into sexual assault allegations against him continues. Judges Livia Orlando and Gualberto Buccarelli, according to Deadline and Italian news agency ANSA, rejected the request. For those who don’t know, the screenwriter was detained on June 19 when a 28-year-old woman of British origin accused him of sexual assault. According to Deadline, the woman accused Haggis of repeatedly abusing her from June 12-15.
Paul Haggis investigation into sexual assault allegations
The alleged victim and Haggis first met at the Monte Carlo Film Festival, according to Deadline, after which the lady was asked to see Haggis in Ostuni. After being arrested for the attack, Haggis was placed under house arrest for 16 days at the hotel where he was staying. The director stayed in Ostuni and did not leave Italy. The Oscar winner’s Italian lawyer, Michele Laforgia, told The Hollywood Reporter that the appeals court judges “unanimously rejected the prosecutor’s request that Haggis be returned to house arrest.”
Laforgia also said that until there is evidence against him, prosecutors must close the case against Paul Haggis, which the director and his legal team apparently expected to do in the coming weeks. Furthermore, the author of Crash faces another legal case in the United States, as film publicist Haleigh Breest filed a lawsuit against him in 2018, alleging that he raped her in January 2013. While the trial for this case was ongoing due to the COVID- 19 -related to delays, the official date was set for October 11. According to the Hollywood Reporter, Haggis said his meeting with the film publicist was mutual. However, after Breest went public with her allegations against Paul Haggis, four more women made similar claims against him.
More about Paul Haggis’ career
For almost 20 years, Haggis has established himself as a filmmaker. He won two Academy Awards for Best Screenplay for his work on Crash and Million Dollar Baby. Additionally, he appeared in two Clint Eastwood films, Flags of Our Fathers and Letters from Iwo Jima. The screenwriter was also involved in the 2006 James Bond film Casino Royale, for which he gained wide acclaim.
In the Valley of Elah, with Tommy Lee Jones, Charlize Theron, and Susan Sarandon, Haggis wrote, directed, and produced in 2007. He was a production assistant on The Next Three Days, with Russell Crowe, Liam Neeson, and Elizabeth Banks. In 2013, he appeared in the drama Third Person, which starred many famous actors, including Liam Neeson, Olivia Wilde and Mila Kunis.
Categories: Entertaintment
Source: HIS Education