FILE - In this Sept. 6, 204 file photo, director Paul Haggis poses for a photo in Toronto during the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival. A December 2017 civil lawsuit charging the Oscar-winning filmmaker with rape has prompted three other women to come forward with their own accusations, including a publicist who says he forced her to perform oral sex, then raped her. Haggis has denied the allegations in the lawsuit, and when asked about the new accusations, his lawyer said, "He didn't rape anybody." (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Darren Calabrese, File)
Rome, June 20 (AP): Film director Paul Haggis was detained 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.
Haggis's attorney, Priya Chaudhry, on Sunday 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.
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.
The prosecutors said airport staff and police noticed her obvious confused state 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 authorised 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".
Prosecutors also were quoted as saying that the woman formalised her complaint and cited circumstances which were subsequently looked into for confirmation by investigators . They didn't cite her nationality or age.
