How did Emile Zola affect the Dreyfus Affair?

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Émile Zola , a leading supporter of Dreyfus, promptly published an open letter ( J'accuse ) to the president of the French republic, Félix Faure, accusing the judges of having obeyed orders from the war office in their acquittal of Esterhazy. Zola was tried for libel and sentenced to jail, but he escaped to England. By this time the case had become a major political issue and was fully exploited by royalist, militarist, and nationalist elements on the one hand and by republican, socialist, and anticlerical elements on the other.