Cinema: Director Paul Haggis cleared of sexual assault charges

Milan, May 7 (LaPresse) – Director Paul Haggis has been cleared of sexual assault charges. The preliminary investigation judge (GIP) of Brindisi ordered the case closed, ending the inquiry that had led to 14 days of house arrest in 2022 for the 72-year-old Canadian Oscar-winning director. No non-consensual sexual acts occurred at the B&B in Ostuni (Brindisi province), where Haggis stayed in June three years ago with a 28-year-old British woman on the eve of the Allora Fest. The charges of aggravated sexual assault and injury, based on the woman's complaint, have been dropped. Haggis’s arrest sparked significant media attention not only in Italy but also internationally, particularly in the United States, already shaken at the time by multiple allegations within the film industry. “For Haggis,” said his lawyers Michele Laforgia and Daniele Romeo, “this marks the end of a nightmare that unjustly shattered the career of a cinematic genius, Oscar winner in 2006, a director and screenwriter acclaimed worldwide.” Paul Haggis has been in Italy for some time and received the news there. A press conference is scheduled for tomorrow, Thursday, May 8 at 10:30 a.m. at the offices of Polis Avvocati in Bari, via Arcivescovo Vaccaro 45, with Haggis and his lawyers in attendance.