Conductor cleared of cult deaths

Mr Tabachnik has always denied the charges

A Franco-Swiss orchestra conductor has been acquitted of involvement in the mass suicides of members of a doomsday cult in the mid 1990s.

Michel Tabachnik, 64, had been linked to the new-age cult The Solar Temple, 68 of whose members died in murder-suicide pacts in 1994 and 1995.

He was accused of inciting the deaths in his writings for the cult.

His lawyer had argued that the drafts were "esoteric ramblings" that could not have inspired violence.

The court in the French city of Grenoble upheld a lower court ruling from 2001 that has also acquitted Mr Tabachnik.

The cult members died apparently believing they would find a better world on another planet.

Their bodies were found in woodland clearings in Switzerland, Canada and France.