Jacqueline Sauvage, who highlighted domestic violence in France, dead at 72

Jacqueline Sauvage, a French woman was pardoned by the French president after killing her abusive husband. Photo: AFP

A Frenchwoman who became a symbol of the struggle against domestic violence after being jailed for killing her abusive husband, then pardoned, has died aged 72.

Jacqueline Sauvage was sentenced to 10 years in prison for murder in 2012, but was freed in December 2016 following a hugely unusual pardon from then-president Francois Hollande.