Bertrand Cantat
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Bertrand Cantat (born 5 March 1964) is a French singer and songwriter. He is the frontman for the rock band Noir Désir.
Cantat was born in Pau, Aquitaine. In 1997 he married Kristina Rady, with whom he had two children.
At the height of Noir Désir's success in the 1990s, he was one of the most prominent figures of French music. His left-wing political views caused him take position against globalisation, fascism, desertification of urban areas in Bordeaux and the 2003 invasion of Iraq, among other topics.
In 2003, following an argument related to infidelity, Bertrand Cantat repeatedly assulted his girlfriend Marie Trintignant in a hotel room in Vilnius, Lithuania. Tucking her unconscious body into bed, she died several days later in hospital due to brain swelling [1]. Cantat was also admitted to the same hospital, suffering from a lethal mix of alcohol and sedatives and required an immediate Gastric lavage. The death of Marie caused considerable emotion in France. Nadine Trintignant, Marie's mother, actively sought a heavy sentence; Cantat's friends claimed he had been out of his mind and had not intended to cause harm. On 29 March 2004 Bertrand was sentenced by Vilnius Regional Court under Article 129 of the Lithuanian Criminal Code to 8 years in prison for murder committed with indirect intent (dolus eventualis), i.e. it was acknowledged by the court that he didn't want to kill the victim, but foresaw her death as a probable consequence of his acts and was indifferent with regard to such a consequence. The verdict was at first appealed by Marie's family (who wanted to toughen the sentence), then by Bertrand Cantat (who wanted the higher court to reclassify his crime as a manslaughter and lessen his sentence), but both parties ultimately decided to cancel their appeals, which rendered the first 8 years judgment final. While in Lukiškės prison of Vilnius, Cantat performed on 11 August 2004 a concert for prisoners and the prison's administration.
At the request of his lawyers, Cantat was moved from a Lithuanian prison to a prison near Muret, France on 28 September 2004.
Cantat was released on parole on 16 October 2007, after serving half of his sentence.[2] [3]
His house in Landes was burned down on 11 September 2003. Many suspect this was related to the death of Marie Trintignant.
