Episode 2 of 2

Conviction and Flight to England

When: 23 February 1898 to June 1899
Where: Conviction at the Assises of the Seine in Paris; flight destination England
Part of: Émile Zola publishes J'Accuse…! and is imprisoned over the Dreyfus affair

Zola was found guilty of libel on 23 February 1898 at the conclusion of the Assises hearing and fled to England to avoid imprisonment, returning in June 1899.

General Billot's complaint against Zola and Alexandre Perrenx was heard at the Assises of the Seine from 7 to 23 February 1898. The proceedings concluded with Zola found guilty of libel on 23 February 1898. To avoid imprisonment, he fled to England, returning home in June 1899. The conviction occurred in Paris; the flight took him to England.

Sources

Dreyfus affair Wikipedia, revision of 2026-09-08
J'Accuse...! Wikipedia, revision of 2026-10-06

Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.