Oscar-winning screenwriter-director Paul Huggies has been arrested after being charged with sexual assault | Israel today

Oscar-winning director-screenwriter Paul Huggies was arrested tonight (Sunday) in Italy after a woman complained that he sexually assaulted her and physically harmed her.

The state is reported to be under investigation by local police.

The 69-year-old Huggies was arrested in the southern city of Boot in the Austrian city, where he stayed to host a number of workshops at a local film festival, which is set to open the next day.

According to Italian police, the screenwriter-director (who won an Oscar for producing and writing a "crash" he directed, and who also rose to fame as a screenwriter for "Million Dollar Baby" and "Quantum of Consolation") sexually assaulted the woman, who is not Italian, for two days while He even took her in the early morning to a local airport - where he left her alone.

Field staff found the woman, who was said to be in "serious physical and mental condition, she looked very confused," and later, before being taken to a hospital for treatment, she arrived at the city police station - where she filed the complaint against Huggies.

Paul Huggies wins the Academy Award for Best Picture for "Crash":

This is not the first time sexual harassment allegations have been made against Harris.

In 2018, a public relations woman named Hailey Brist claimed she was raped by the esteemed filmmaker after a premiere the two attended in 2013.

She sued him, and later three other women complained about Harris' misconduct.

In a statement to the media, festival directors said they were shocked by the news of Huggies' arrest.

"We acted immediately to remove any activity of the director from the incident, and at the same time we express our complete identification with the woman involved in the incident," they said.

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