The day after her son hanged himself, Jacqueline Sauvage shot her husband Norbert Marot three times in the back with a hunting rifle.
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PARIS – A Frenchwoman imprisoned for shooting dead her husband after nearly 50 years years of rape and incest has been granted a rare presidential pardon, meaning she could be released within weeks.
Jacqueline Sauvage was married for 47 years to Norbert Marot, a violent alcoholic whom she said raped and beat her and her three daughters and also abused her son.
On September 10, 2012, the day after her son hanged himself, Ms Sauvage shot her husband three times in the back with a rifle.
Legal experts said that meant she could be released from prison by mid-April.
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She was found guilty of murder and sentenced to 10 years in prison in October 2014, which was upheld on appeal in December 2015 as the state rejected her pleas of self-defence.
She was married for 47 years to Norbert Marot, a violent alcoholic whom she said raped and beat her and her three daughters and also abused her son.
On September 10, 2012, the day after her son hanged himself, Ms Sauvage shot her husband three times in the back with a rifle.
She was found guilty of murder and sentenced to 10 years in prison in October 2014, which was upheld on appeal in December 2015 as the state rejected her pleas of self-defence.
The Socialist leader agreed to meet her three daughters and lawyers on Friday, and on Sunday evening, his office said he had granted the pardon and that Ms Sauvage could immediately request her release.
“The president of the republic, faced with this exceptional human situation, wants to enable the return as soon as possible of Ms Sauvage to her family,” it said in a statement.
Legal experts said that meant she could be released from prison by mid-April.
However, Mr Hollande’s office was careful to point out that his decision had “respected the judiciary” as it did not annul guilty verdicts reached by two independent juries.
During his 2012 presidential campaign, Mr Hollande distanced himself from such pardons, reinstated by Napoleon, describing them as belonging to “a different concept of power”.
During his 2012 presidential campaign, Mr Hollande distanced himself from such pardons, reinstated by Napoleon, describing them as belonging to “a different concept of power”.
He has granted only one to date, when he freed convicted bank robber Philippe El Shennawy – who had spent 38 years behind bars – in 2014.
When Ms Sauvage was sentenced, the activist group Osez le Feminisme (Dare To Be Feminist) called for the definition of self-defence to be extended in cases of “female victims of violence”.
According to their lawyers, Ms Sauvage is “euphoric” at the news and her daughters “happy as the president heard them and did not disappoint them”.
Bar very few critics, politicians from across the board welcomed the move.
Ségolène Royal, the environment minister, hailed what she called “the right decision”.
“This woman has already spent three years in prison. It’s hell; she’s already been through hell her entire life,” she said, adding that there were “around 20 (other) women in prison for the same reasons”.
Some 118 women die in France every year at the hands of violent partners, according to official estimates.