THOUGH it is the ridiculous burkini scandal that has caught the attention of the foreign media, a much more violent controversy over a murder is currently at the centre of a public debate here in France.
It all began on Sept 10, 2012 in Selle-sur-le-Bied, a small town by the picturesque La Clery river some 45 minutes drive away south of Paris. It was evening and Jacqueline Sauvage, in her early 60s, was having a dispute with her often violent husband Norbert.
Finally exhausted, she went up the staircase into her bedroom, took a few pills to calm her nerves, locked the door from inside and went to sleep. The husband on his part, still downstairs in the living room, opened a bottle of whisky and sat down — meditating and drinking, glass after glass.
At about midnight he walked up the stairs and knocked on the bedroom entrance. When his wife eventually woke up and opened the door, Norbert slapped her twice and ordered her to prepare his dinner. He was obviously angry, but apparently also very hungry by this time.
He took a U-turn, went downstairs, served himself another glass of whisky and walked out onto the veranda, keeping his eyes on the garden in front of him, and waiting.
Following him quietly, the woman took his hunting rifle off the wall by the fireplace, loaded it and calmly fired three shots in his back. She then called the police and, admitting her crime, said she could take it no more.
When the trial began on Oct 28, 2014 in the Loiret court, the murdered man’s three daughters testified in favour of the accused, saying they had been victims of their father’s violent temper all their lives and that his death was actually a source of relief to them. The young women also revealed that their teenage brother had committed suicide as a result of depression caused by the deceased’s persistent acts of brutality.
The jury sympathised with the accused, but given the fact that the bullets were fired from a short range into the back of a standing man, her lawyer could not convince the court with the argument of an act of legitimate self-defence. The judges nevertheless agreed on a relatively lighter sentence of 10 years in prison.
The case remained at the centre of national attention for many following months and finally on Dec 8, 2015 a petition was filed by a number of National Assembly members and other prominent people, both from the left and the right, urging President François Hollande to use his exceptional powers to grant an amnesty.
The signatories included, among others, figures such as former European Union assembly member Daniel Cohn-Bendit, Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo and movie stars of yore like Brigitte Bardot and Sophie Marceau.
The presidential pardon, accorded on Jan 31, 2016, was typically ‘hollandish’. According to it, the accused was given the ‘right to apply for conditional freedom’.
Though the defence lawyer immediately proceeded with the formality, on Aug 22 the court rejected his appeal. Upon learning this, Jacqueline Sauvage initially gave up any further efforts to obtain clemency, but her daughters still believe she can continue serving her prison term by staying at home and wearing an electronic bracelet. Currently, the lawyer’s efforts are concentrated on this legal possibility.
Elizabeth Cordonnier, a well-known judicial expert, pointed out during a TV discussion recently that justice is blind and irresponsive to any sort of emotional waves, even if they are launched on a national scale, and the fact that the accused killed the victim with three bullets into his back cannot be taken lightly.
“Otherwise it will be an open door to personal solutions, with legal imbroglios untangled only later through smartphones and social networks.”
The writer is a journalist based in Paris.
Published in Dawn September 4th, 2016
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