MILAN (Reuters) -An Italian judge has dismissed a case against Oscar-winning screenwriter and director Paul Haggis for alleged rape, his lawyers said on Wednesday.
Haggis, 72, was detained in June 2022 and spent 14 days under house arrest after a British woman accused him of raping her over a two-day period in the southern Italian town of Ostuni in the Puglia region, where he was teaching at a film event.
The court judge in the nearby city of Brindisi ruled no sexual act took place without consent, Haggis’ lawyers said.
“For Mr Haggis, it is the end of a nightmare that has unfairly shattered the career of a film genius and 2006 Oscar winner,” lawyers Michele Laforgia and Daniele Romeo said in a statement.
Haggis co-wrote and directed “Crash”, a 2004 crime drama for which he won two Oscars, and also wrote “Million Dollar Baby”, a sports drama directed by and starring Clint Eastwood, which was released the same year.
Haggis’ lawyers said he would hold a press conference on Thursday at their law firm’s offices in Bari, Puglia’s regional capital. Â
The lawyer of the woman who filed the complaint against the screenwriter was not immediately available to comment.
In November 2022, a New York jury ordered Haggis to pay $10 million in damages for raping a publicist in his apartment nine years earlier.
(Reporting by Emilio Parodi, editing by Gavin Jones and Ewan Harwood)
