French prosecutors have reopened an investigation into rock singer Bertrand Cantat, after a Netflix documentary series in March described possible violence before the suicide of his ex-wife Krisztina Rady.
Authorities will now examine whether the former Noir Désir frontman subjected Rady to abuse during their relationship.
Bordeaux prosecutors announced on July 24 they were launching a new inquiry into “possible acts of intentional violence” Cantat may have committed before 41 year-old Rady was found hanged in her home on January 10, 2010.
The three-part Netflix documentary, De rockstar à tueur. Le cas Cantat (From Rockstar to Killer), included an interview with a nurse who said Rady visited a Bordeaux hospital “following an altercation with her partner, a violent argument” which resulted in a “scalp detachment and bruises.”
Bordeaux public prosecutor Renaud Gaudeul said, in a press release, “Watching [the documentary] led me to revisit the case file opened to investigate the cause of death following the passing of Krisztina Rady”.
“My research also uncovered three other related proceedings subsequently opened in 2013, 2014, and 2018, all of which were closed without further action,” he added.
Prosecutors will now examine “several claims and testimonies not included” in the four previous investigations into the circumstances of Rady’s death, all of which were closed without charges.
The documentary also claimed Krisztina Rády left a distressed voicemail on her parents’ answering machine shortly before her death, where she referenced several acts of violence by Bertrand Cantat.
In 2004, a court convicted Cantat of intentional assault resulting in death, after his wife Marie Trintignant’s death a year before in Vilnius.
Cantat was sentenced to eight years in prison, after the court found he had assaulted Trintignant in their hotel room, causing her to fall into a coma and die five days later, after being repatriated to France.
He was released on parole in 2007 after serving four years.
Following his release, the former frontman returned to music, releasing a new album and touring. His return to public life, though, remained deeply divisive in France.
Many women’s rights activists have regarded him as a symbol of violent misogyny.
In 2018, protests erupted outside the Rockstore venue ahead of one of his concerts, in which demonstrators held placards reading: “If killing is an art, give Cantat every award.”
