French rock magazine 'regrets' giving front cover to singer who killed girlfriend

A French magazine has expressed regret after coming under fire for featuring a rock star who murdered his girlfriend on its cover amid a growing scandal over allegations of sexual violence against disgraced Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein.

Bertrand Cantat was convicted of killing his actress girlfriend Marie Trintignant in a hotel room in Lithuania in 2003.

Music magazine Les Inrockuptibles Tuesday expressed its "regrets" in an editorial and acknowledged its decision to put Cantat on its October 6 cover, ahead of the release of his first solo album, was "questionable".

The cover provoked widespread outrage on social media and France's women's rights minister Marlene Schiappa also blasted the magazine.

"In the name of what do we have to endure the promotion of the man who beat Marie Trintignant to death? Do not let anything pass," Schiappa said.

Elle magazine publishing a scathing editorial on social media titled "In the name of Marie: for all women victims of men's violence."

"The pain that this cover has stirred up has deeply touched us," the Inrockuptibles editorial said.

"The reactions that followed... have upset us, and we are committed to always being vigilant in the way we treat and cover the subjects we consider
important."

Cantat's comeback was one such subject but "to put him on the cover was questionable".

"To those who felt hurt, we express our sincere regrets," it said.

Cantat, former frontman of the top French rock group Noir Desir, was sentenced to eight years in prison for murdering his girlfriend. She suffered severe brain damage after the pair had a fight and later died from her injuries.

Cantat served four years before being released on parole in 2007.

According to reports, Cantat beat Trintignant to death during an argument over a text message in a hotel room.

He apparently waited hours before raising the alarm and Trintignant died several days later in hospital in a coma.

During the trial, Cantat originally insisted that her fatal head injuries were caused when she hit her head on a radiator but was eventually convicted by a Lithuanian court of murder with indirect intent.

After being freed, the rocker was then banned from speaking publically about the case as well as from publishing any related work or recording.

"Marie Trintignant, you are not forgotten," Elle said.

"Thanks to this, her face has become that of all women victims of the violence of men,"  journalist Dorothee Werner wrote in the editorial, recalling that 123 women were killed in France by their spouses in 2016.

"To all these women as well as the actresses against Weinstein... it takes courage," she said, referring to the growing scandal over Weinstein, who is
accused of rape and sexual harassment of dozens of actresses.

Cantat made a comeback with his new band Detroit in 2013.

The Local reported how in September 2013 he was forced to alter the release date of his comeback album because it coincided with International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women.

He is due to release his first solo album later this year.

Marie Trintignant's father is the veteran actor Jean-Louis Trintignant, who won the 2012 best actor gong at the Cannes Film Festival for his role in the Michael Haneke film Amour.

The actor has already expressed his outrage at Cantat's attempts to make a return to the music scene.

In 2011 he pulled out of  the Avignon theatre festival after hearing his daughter's murderer had been booked to play two gigs.

At the time he told Le Figaro: "Why can't people understand that there's something terrible in his way of coming back as if nothing has happened."