(ANSA) - ROME, JUN 19 - The Oscar-winning Canadian director Paul Haggis was arrested today in Ostuni (Brindisi) on charges of sexual violence and aggravated personal injury.
According to what was communicated by the Public Prosecutor of Brindisi in a note, the director would have forced a young foreign woman to undergo sexual intercourse for two days in Ostuni where she participates in the 'Then Fest' event.
As reported by the investigators, the woman was then accompanied by the director to the Papola Casale airport in Brindisi and left there at the crack of dawn, despite her precarious physical and psychological conditions.
At the airport, the alleged victim of the violence was assisted by the staff of Aeroporti di Puglia and the border police who, after having given her the first treatment, accompanied her to the offices of the mobile squad.
The agents then took the woman to the Perrino hospital in Brindisi where the "pink protocol" was activated for the victims of violence.
Subsequently, the alleged victim formalized the complaint.
The detention order also requested the probative incident of the injured party aimed at crystallizing the declarations made.
The measure executed - informs the Public Prosecutor - from a tight and articulated investigation activity, conducted by the mobile team, which has received evidence submitted to the scrutiny of the judicial authority.
According to what we learn, the director has known for a long time the alleged victim who, after one of the episodes of violence, would have been forced to be medicated.
(HANDLE).
