ATHENS — Actor and former National Theater director Dimitris Lignadis refused to respond to questions by an investigating magistrate on Thursday, presenting instead a statement refuting two new charges of rape.

In his written statement Lignadis, already detained pending trial on charges of repeatedly raping two boys, is refuting new allegations of raping a boy seven years ago and an adult in 2018.

His lawyer Alexis Kougias said his client had filed an injunction against the investigator for prejudice, explaining Lignadis' refusal to respond. He also charged that the entire case against the actor is related to "business games that judges and prosecutors are involved in," and claimed that the detainee "has his obsessions, but he was never a rapist."