French rock star guilty of murder

By JOHN LICHFIELD

PARIS - One of France's most popular rock singers was jailed for eight years in Lithuania yesterday for the murder of his girlfriend, actress Marie Trintignant, during a violent lovers' quarrel last summer.

A court in Vilnius found that Bertrand Cantat, 40, lead singer of the band Noir Desir, had not meant to kill Trintignant, 41, but was "incontestably" guilty of her murder.

His lawyers said that he would appeal against the sentence, which they described as "utterly excessive".

Cantat, a cult figure in France for his old-fashioned rock style and left-wing opinions, admitted striking the actress four times in the face and knocking her to the floor of their hotel room in Vilnius last July.

He told the court that he acted in a blind fury, and out of character, during a quarrel provoked by the fact that she had received an affectionate text message from her former husband. His French and Lithuanian lawyers asked at first for the murder to be declared a "crime of passion" and then an accidental killing, or manslaughter.

But the court ruled yesterday that Cantat was guilty of murder because he knew what he was doing, even if "he did not will the consequences of his actions".

Trintignant was in Lithuania to make a movie about the French novelist Colette. She and Cantat had been lovers for 18 months.

After being knocked into a coma during the fight Trintignant was flown home to Paris, where she died seven days later.

In a closing statement last week after a four-day trial, Cantat begged Trintignant's mother and father, and her four children, to forgive him.

"We had a wonderful time together. I loved Marie with all my being. I still love her and I will love her forever."

- INDEPENDENT