In My Defence

Phillipa Monaghan stood trial in 1989 for the attempted murder of her terminally ill mother - a mercy killing undertaken at her mother's request.

In 1898, Alfred Dreyfus was accused by the French army of being a German spy - primarily because he was a Jew. He was sentenced to life imprisonment. An impassioned plea by writer Emile Zola, J'accuse, led to Dreyfus's final exoneration.

Emmeline Pankhurst was charged in 1912 with 'unlawful conspiracy by inciting members of the Women's Social and Political Union to commit damage to the amount of £5 upon the windows of shopkeepers'. She defended herself from the dock.

In 1942 Franz Jagerstatter, an Austrian Catholic, was called up to serve in Hitler's army. By publicly stating his refusal to fight for the Nazis he knew he faced execution. From his prison cell, he wrote explaining his actions.

Sir Roger Casement , a leading figure of the Irish National Movement, landed on the coast of Ireland in 1916, intent on rebellion. He was tried for treason in a court he refused to recognise and was hanged.

In July 1973, two Turkish diplomats were shot dead in California. Their assassin was Gourgen Yanikian , an American of Armenian extraction, whose family was massacred by the Turks 60 years before. On his release, Yanikian was unrepentant.