Rock star can still get fair trial: judge

A judge ruled that a French rock star’s chances of a fair trial in the fatal beating of his girlfriend were not compromised by a new book that accuses him of being a murderer.

A lawyer for Bertrand Cantat, frontman for rock band Noir Desir (Black Desire), had argued that the book by his girlfriend’s mother undermined the singer’s right to be presumed innocent.

The book, Ma fille, Marie (My daughter, Marie), by Nadine Trintignant, does not refer to Cantat by name but uses the term “murderer” 85 times.

Paris Judge Catherine Bezio ruled, however, that the word’s repeated use was “cathartic” and that the book “expresses the pain of a mother devastated by her child’s pain”.

Cantat’s lawyer said he would appeal. He wanted the book, released on Tuesday, to be withdrawn from sale until after the singer’s trial.

Actress Marie Trintignant, 41, died on August 1 in a Paris hospital after she was beaten into a coma while in Lithuania where she was starring in a film. An autopsy found she died from multiple blows to her face and head.

Cantat is being held in Lithuania on suspicion of manslaughter, a charge that carries a maximum sentence of 15 years in jail. His trial there is expected before year’s end.