1898: In France Émile Zola was convicted following his trial for libel.
In December 1894, Captain Alfred Dreyfus was convicted of treason. Dreyfus was a 35-year-old French jew artillery officer. He was sentenced to life imprisonment for communicating French military secrets to the German Embassy in Paris, and was imprisoned on Devil's Island in French Guiana, where he spent nearly five years.
J'Accuse...!" was an open letter published on 13 January 1898 in the newspaper L'Aurore. In the letter, Zola addressed President of France Félix Faure and accused the government of anti-Semitism and the unlawful jailing of Alfred Dreyfus, who was sentenced to lifelong penal servitude for espionage. The letter was printed on the front page of the newspaper and caused a stir in France and abroad. Zola was prosecuted for libel and found guilty on 23 February 1898. To avoid imprisonment, he fled to England.
