2003-07-31 - 17:36
update Independent Record Published in Helena Independent Record - Indexed on Aug 1, 2003 PARIS - French actress Marie Trintignant, who allegedly was beaten into a coma this week by her rock star boyfriend while they were in Lithuania, died Friday from swelling of the brain, a doctor said. She was 41. Trintignant, who was flown from Lithuania to France and kept alive for several days on a respirator, died at the Hartmann Clinic in suburban Neuilly, neurosurgeon Stephane Delajoux said. Trintignant was hospitalized in the Lithuanian capital, Vilnius, on Sunday after her boyfriend, 39-year-old Bertrand Cantat, allegedly beat her at the hotel where they were Vilnius City prosecutor Dainius Baraniunas told Reuters doctors at the toxicology unit of Vilnius University Hospital said Cantat -- lead singer of the popular French band Noir Desir -- was still too ill to be questioned by police.
Cantat, 39, was admitted early Sunday for alcohol poisoning and a suspected overdose of medicine or drugs soon after Trintignant was rushed to the same hospital in a coma with severe cerebral haemorrhaging, a police spokesman said.
''A pre-trial investigation has been launched in this case involving serious bodily injury and will proceed with due diligence,'' Baraniunas said.
Local media quoted Trintignant's son, Romen Kolinka, as saying that his mother, 41, suffered a severe head injury in the incident.
Trintignant has been in the Baltic state for two months working on the film ''Colette,'' a biopic of the French author.
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