Reports: Paul Haggis detained in Italy in sex assault case

(20 Jun 2022) RESTRICTION SUMMARY: ASSOCIATED PRESS New York, 11 August 2015 1. Medium shot of producer/director Paul Haggis talking to reporter 2. Medium of Paul Haggis on the red carpet ASSOCIATED PRESS Pristina, Kosovo, 19 July 2017 3. Set up shot of Paul Haggis during an interview 4. SOUNDBITE (English) Paul Haggis, director - on speaking about controversial issues: "You know, you never know if this closes or opens doors, what you say. Certainly doesn't open them! It could close them but, you know, we can't think about that, we're artists and artists always have to speak out. If you have a microphone you need to use it, so it's not really a matter of does it do this or does it do that, you just do what you have to do. It's not a big deal." 5. Cutaway Haggis 6. Cutaway Haggis 7. SOUNDBITE (English) Paul Haggis, director - on how he sees the human rights issues in the Balkans: "Well I'm no expert. I certainly see it's a hell of a lot of better then it was a few years ago and hopefully with what's occurring now it will get better and better. I think as the focus turns to... I mean justice is always important - you can't continue, you can't move on until people really understand exactly what happened and who is responsible, always." ASSOCIATED PRESS Cannes, France, 18 May 2012 8. Pan from Petra Nemcova to Paul Haggis at press conference 9. UPSOUND (English) Paul Haggis, filmmaker: "If you have given up hope, if you think there is no hope, you haven't been to Haiti. There is so much hope there. And you can't go to Haiti without that hope just infusing your body. That's why we all go back." 10. Wide of Sean Penn, Petra Nemcova and Paul Haggis at press conference STORYLINE: REPORTS: PAUL HAGGIS DETAINED IN ITALY IN SEX ASSAULT CASE Film director Paul Haggis was detained on Sunday (19 JUNE 2022) for investigation of allegations that he sexually assaulted a woman in southern Italy, Italian news media said, quoting local prosecutors.    The Canadian-born, Oscar-winning Haggis, 69, has been in Italy for a film festival that begins on Tuesday in Ostuni, a tourist town in Puglia, the region that forms the “heel” of the Italian peninsula.    The news agency LaPresse and several other Italian media carried a written statement from prosecutors in the nearby city of Brindisi that they were investigating allegations a “young foreign woman” was forced to have “non-consensual” sexual relations over two days.    Prosecutors Antonio Negro and Livia Orlando, who are conducting the investigation, said in the statement that the woman was “forced to seek medical care" following the sexual relations. After a couple of days “of non-consensual relations, the woman was accompanied by the man” to Brindisi airport on Sunday and “was left there at dawn despite (her) precarious physical and psychological conditions.”    The Brindisi prosecutors' office was closed on Sunday. Haggis’s attorney didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.    The prosecutors said airport staff and police noticed her “obvious confused state” and " and after lending initial treatment, took her to Brindisi's police headquarters, where officers accompanied her to a local hospital for examination.    Police at headquarters' operations room said they weren't authorized to give out information about the case, including whether Haggis was being held at the police station or at a hotel or other lodging.    Haggis is a director, producer and screenwriter. He won an Oscar in 2006 for best original screenplay for "Crash."    =========================================================== Clients are reminded: Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...