Editing Dreyfus affair (section)

=== Conviction, degradation, and deportation ===
[[File:Galons arrachés à Alfred Dreyfus le jour de sa dégradation.jpg|thumb|upright|Dreyfus's officer stripes, ripped off as a symbol of treason – [[Musée d'Art et d'Histoire du Judaïsme|Museum of Jewish Art and History]]]]

On 22 December 1894, after several hours of deliberation, the verdict was reached. Seven judges unanimously convicted Alfred Dreyfus of collusion with a foreign power, to the maximum penalty under section 76 of the Criminal Code: ''permanent exile in a walled fortification'' ([[prison]]), the cancellation of his army rank and military degradation, also known as [[cashiering]]. Dreyfus was not [[Capital punishment in France|sentenced to death]], as it had been abolished for [[political crime]]s [[French Constitution of 1848|since 1848]].

For the authorities, the press and the public, doubts had been dispelled by the trial and his guilt was certain. Right and left regretted the abolition of the death penalty for such a crime. Antisemitism peaked in the press and occurred in areas so far spared.<ref>Reinach, [http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k75082s ''History of the Dreyfus Affair'', Volume 1], p. 468. {{in lang|fr}}</ref> Socialist leader [[Jean Jaurès]] regretted the lightness of the sentence in an address to the [[Chamber of Deputies (France)|Chamber of Deputies]] and wrote, "A soldier has been sentenced to death and executed for throwing a button in the face of his corporal. So why leave this miserable traitor alive?" Radical Republican [[Georges Clemenceau]] in ''La'' ''Justice'' made a similar comment.<ref>Clemenceau wrote on 25 December 1894, in ''La Justice'': "Without doubt, I am also more firmly than ever the enemy of the death penalty. But it can never be understood by the public that the state a few weeks ago has shot an unfortunate child 20 years old who was guilty of throwing a button of his tunic at the head of the President of a Military Court, while the traitor Dreyfus will soon leave for l'île de Nou (sic) [[New Caledonia]], where he will wait in the garden of [[Candide]] (sic)." Quoted by Michel Winock, Clemenceau, ed. Perrin, 2007, chap. XV, "''The Start of the Affair''", p. 244. {{in lang|fr}}</ref>

On 5 January 1895, the ceremony of degradation took place in the Morlan Court of the [[École militaire|Military School]] in Paris. While the drums rolled, Dreyfus was accompanied by four artillery officers, who brought him before an officer of the state who read the judgment. A Republican Guard adjutant tore off his badges, thin strips of gold, his stripes, cuffs and sleeves of his jacket. As he was paraded throughout the streets, the crowd chanted "Death to Judas, death to the Jew." Witnesses report the dignity of Dreyfus, who continued to maintain his innocence while raising his arms: "Innocent, Innocent! Long live France! Long live the army". The Adjutant broke his sword on his knee and then the condemned Dreyfus marched at a slow pace in front of his former companions.<ref>Méhana Mouhou, ''Dreyfus Affair: conspiracy in the Républic'', Éd. L'Harmattan, 2006, p. 40. {{in lang|fr}}</ref> An event known as "the legend of the confession" took place before the degradation. In the van that brought him to the military school, Dreyfus is said to have confided his treachery to Captain Lebrun-Renault.<ref>Bredin, ''The Affair'', p. 107. {{in lang|fr}}</ref><ref>It seems that the correct spelling is Captain Lebrun Renaud, but all of the historical literature takes the form of the text, and it is therefore the most common. See the testimony from [http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k242524 ''Trial at Rennes'' Volume 3], p. 73. {{in lang|fr}}</ref> It appears that this was merely self-promotion by the captain of the Republican Guard, and that in reality Dreyfus had made no admission. Due to the affair's being related to national security, the prisoner was then held in solitary confinement in a cell awaiting transfer. On 17 January 1895, he was transferred to the prison on [[Île de Ré]] where he was held for over a month. He had the right to see his wife twice a week in a long room, each of them at one end, with the director of the prison in the middle.<ref>Bredin, ''The Affair'', p. 103. {{in lang|fr}}</ref>
[[File:Hutte von Dreyfus.jpg|thumb|left|Dreyfus's Hut on Devil's Island in French Guiana]]
At the last minute, at the initiative of General Mercier, a law was passed on 9 February 1895, restoring the [[Îles du Salut]] in [[French Guiana]], as a place of fortified deportation so that Dreyfus was not sent to Ducos, [[New Caledonia]].{{citation needed|date=February 2021}} Indeed, during the deportation of Adjutant Lucien Châtelain, sentenced for conspiring with the enemy in 1888, the facilities did not provide the required conditions of confinement and detention conditions were considered too soft. On 21 February 1895, Dreyfus embarked on the ship Ville de Saint-Nazaire. The next day the ship sailed for [[French Guiana]].

[[File:Dreyfus Ile du diable 96.jpg|thumb|upright|''Le Petit Journal'' (27 September 1896)]]
On 12 March 1895, after a difficult voyage of fifteen days, the ship anchored off the Îles du Salut. Dreyfus stayed one month in prison on [[Île Royale]] and was transferred to [[Devil's Island]] on 14 April 1895. Apart from his guards, he was the only inhabitant of the island and he stayed in a stone hut {{convert|4|×|4|m|ft}}.<ref>Bredin, ''The Affair'', p. 125. {{in lang|fr}}</ref> Haunted by the risk of escape, the commandant of the prison sentenced him to a hellish life, even though living conditions were already very painful. The temperature reached 45&nbsp;°C, he was underfed or fed contaminated food and hardly had any treatment for his many tropical diseases. Dreyfus became sick and shaken by fevers that got worse every year.<ref>Alfred Dreyfus, ''Five Years of my life''. {{in lang|fr}}</ref>

Dreyfus was allowed to write on paper numbered and signed. He underwent censorship by the commandant even when he received mail from his wife Lucie, whereby they encouraged each other. On 6 September 1896, the conditions of life for Dreyfus worsened again; he was chained ''double looped'', forcing him to stay in bed motionless with his ankles shackled. This measure was the result of false information of his escape revealed by a British newspaper. For two long months, Dreyfus was plunged into deep despair, convinced that his life would end on this remote island.<ref>Bredin, ''The Affair'', p. 132. {{in lang|fr}}</ref>{{Tone inline|date=June 2022}}