tolerate
the partiality of this court!
Officers are allowed to say
what they please.
Newspapers hostile to Zola are permitted
to threaten and intimidate the jury.
Crosses mark their doors for the vengeance
of the mob if Zola is acquitted, but if l...
You cannot go on!
I'll say what I have to say
if this trial lasts six months!
Court is adjourned.
Bravo, Zola!
As prefect of police,
I insist you leave by the side door.
Otherwise, I cannot guarantee
your safety.
I think he's right.
Thank you very much,
but I shall leave like anyone else.
Has the jury gone out yet?
No, the advocate general
is still speaking.
And Zola sought only publicity.
That, gentlemen, is the true picture
of their fight for humanity, right and truth.
It rests with you, gentlemen, to answer
this insulting challenge to our army.
Zola must be punished,
and all France awaits your verdict.
Down with Zola!
Quiet. Quiet! Quiet!
Mr. President, Monsieur Zola requests
that he be allowed to speak.
Permission granted.
Gentlemen...
...in the House of Deputies
a month ago...
...to frantic applause,
the prime minister, Monsieur Maline...
...declared that he had confidence
in you 12 citizens...
...into whose hands he had bestowed
the defense of the army.
In other words...
...you are being instructed,
by order, to condemn me...
...just as, in that other case...
...the minister of war
dictated the acquittal of Esterhazy.
Down with Zola!
The prime minister gave
no such order to this jury.
His words made his intention
to coerce justice unmistakable.
And I denounce them
to the conscience of honest men.
Confine yourself to the facts.
However...
...my profession is writing,
not talking.
But from my struggling youth
until today...
...my principal aim
has been to strive for truth.
That is why I entered this fight.
All my friends have told me that it
was insane for a single person...
...to oppose the immense machinery
of the law...
...the glory of the army
and the power of the state.
They warned me that my actions
would be mercilessly crushed...
...that I would be destroyed.
But what does it matter
if an individual is shattered...
...if only justice is resurrected?
It has been said that the state
summoned me to this court.
That is not true.
I am here because I wished it.
I alone have chosen you as my judges.
I alone decided that this abominable
affair should see the light...
...so that France might at last know all
and voice her opinion.
My act has no other object.
My person is of no account.
I'm satisfied.
But my confidence in you
was not shared by the state.
They did not dare say all
about the whole undividable affair...
...and submit it to your verdict.
That is no fault of mine.
You saw for yourselves how my defense
was incessantly silenced.
Gentlemen, I know you.
You are the heart,
the intellect of my beloved Paris...
...where I was born
and which I've studied for 40 years.
I see you with your families
under the evening lamp.
I accompany you into your factories,
your shops.
You're all workers and righteous men.
You will not say, like many:
"What does it matter if an innocent man
is undergoing torture on Devil's Island?
Is the suffering of one obscure person
worth the disturbance of a great country?"
Perhaps, though, you've been told
that by punishing me...
...you will stop a campaign
that is injurious to France.
Gentlemen, if that is your idea...
...you are mistaken.
Look at me.
Have I the look of a hireling?
A liar? A traitor?
I'm only a free writer
who has given his life to work...
...and who will resume it tomorrow.
And I am not here defending myself.
Tremendous pressure
has been put upon you.
"Save the army.
Convict Zola and save France."
I say to you, pick up that challenge!
Save the army and save France...
...but do it by letting truth conquer.
Not only is an innocent man
crying out for justice...
...but more. Much more.
A great nation is in