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French rocker faces investigation over ex-wife's death

French rocker Bertrand Cantat, who has already served jail time for the death of actress Marie Trintignan, has demanded to speak to magistrates following reports that he is to be investigated in connection with the death of his wife in 2010.

Bertrand Cantat
Bertrand Cantat DR
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In 2003 a Lithuanian court found Cantat guilty of unintentionally causing the death of Trintignant, his girlfriend at the time, during a violent argument in the Vilnius hotel room.

Transferred to France, he was released in 2007 after serving just over half of his eight-year sentence.

The former Noir Désir lead singer, who is now 54, has relaunched his career, singing with the group Détroit and recording a solo album.

Feminist groups have demonstrated outside his concerts, complaining that he has never apologised over Trintignant's death, causing many of them to be cancelled.

A protest is planned outside his next performance in Paris on 7 June.

Now he faces another legal inquiry over his ex-wife Krisztina Ràdy's death in 2010.

At the time it was declared to be suicide but feminist activist and lawyer Yael Mellul, who at one time represented Ràdy's last boyfriend, has claimed that physical violence and psychological pressure by Cantat played a role in her death.

She claims that messages exchanged between other members of Noir Désir show they were aware that she was in danger but did not come forward after her death.

Investigators interviewed her on 23 May, she told the Journal du Dimanche newspaper, and invited her to file a complaint against the singer.

She did so in the hope that the fallout from the #MeToo campaign would encourage them to come forward now, she said.

Cantat's lawyer, Antonin Lévy, denounced the complaint as being "based on lies ... like all its predecessors" and said his client has demanded to be questioned by investigators, adding that Ràdy's family did not support "this persecution".

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