Prosecutors in 2003 said Cantat punched Trintignant at least 19 times A Montreal theatre’s hiring of a French rock star convicted of manslaughter has sparked a row, with politicians calling for him to be denied entry.
Theatre du Nouveau Monde has engaged Bertrand Cantat to appear next year in a series of plays by Sophocles.
Cantat was convicted in 2003 of beating girlfriend Marie Trintignant to death in a Lithuanian hotel room. He was released from prison in 2007.
Canadian law appears to bar him. The theatre said he had paid for his crime.
“It is unacceptable,” said Gerard Deltell, of provincial party Action democratique du Quebec, who proposed a motion in the Quebec provincial legislature calling on the federal government to bar the former singer for Noir Desir.
“Mr Cantat is not welcome in Quebec.”
Gilles Duceppe, the leader of the Bloc Quebecois, also condemned the theatre’s choice.
Josee Verner, a former minister in Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s Conservative government, said the party would not allow Cantat to enter the country if it were returned to power in the upcoming 2 May election.
“There will be no exception made for him under Canadian immigration laws,” Ms Verner said, according to the Reuters news agency.
Canada’s immigration act bars from entry anyone convicted abroad of a crime that is punishable in Canada by at least 10 years in prison. Cantat would have faced life in prison had he been convicted of manslaughter in Canada.
Theatre du Nouveau Monde is Montreal’s largest theatre company.
The three Sophocles plays, directed by Wajdi Mouawad, are to be performed from 4 May to 6 June 2012.
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