Film director Paul Haggis was detained on Sunday for investigation of allegations that he sexually assaulted a woman in southern Italy, Italian news media said, quoting local prosecutors.
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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 LaPresse news agency 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.
Haggis's attorney, Priya Chaudhry, said that although he could not discuss the evidence under Italian law, "I am confident that all allegations will be dismissed against Mr. Haggis. He is totally innocent and willing to fully cooperate with the authorities so the truth comes out quickly."
