Paul Haggis.Photo: Daniele Venturelli/Getty
A sexual assault charge against Oscar-winning directorPaul Haggishas been reportedly dismissed after a judge in the city of Lecce, Italy, ruled in his favor Friday.
If follows an application from prosecutors to continue Haggis' house arrest so that an investigation could continue, reportedVariety.
“After viewing the evidence and hearing arguments from both sides, the District Court of Lecce, an appellate court with three judges, unanimously rejected a prosecutor’s appeal to have Haggis' house arrest reinstated,” the statement read, per Variety.
Haggis' representatives and attorney did not immediately return PEOPLE’s request for comment.
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Prosecutors said in their written statement that the woman was “forced to seek medical care” after the alleged incident, which they said occurred over the course of two days.
The judge also reportedly noted “a complex story that blurs the original judgment expressed in the ordinance which had ordered house arrest for” the writer-director.
Best known for writing and directing 2004’sCrash, Haggis was detained in a hotel room in the city of Ostuni after the allegations were made, reported theAP. Gilli previously ordered the two-timeAcademy Awardwinner to remain in the hotel room pending further review, the outlet added.
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The following month,three other woman came forwardto Breest’s attorneys. In a series of interviews with theAP, they provided details of their sexual-misconduct allegations, which allegedly stemmed from interactions they had with Haggis from 1996 through 2015, when they were still beginning their careers. One of Haggis' accusers claimed thatthe director and screenwriter raped her in 1996when she was 28 years old and working as a publicist. All of the women chose to remain anonymous.
In August 2018, Haggis said in a filed response that Breest’s claims were “shocking and scandalous claims of fiction” which he “vehemently denies.” Additionally, the director denied Breest “gave [him] oral sex” forcibly or without her consent, calling the moment consensual.
Haggis alsodenied the claims in a statementprovided to PEOPLE at the time.
source: people.com
