Rizal

Accustomed to share the merry season with family, friends and relatives, the 1896 Christmas was in did, Rizal's saddest. Confined in a dark, gloomy cell, Rizal was in despair and had no idea of what his fate may be. Under this delusion, he wrote a letter to Lt. Taviel de Andrade requesting the latter to visit him before his trial for there was a very important matter they need to discuss. Likewise, Rizal greeted the lieutenant a joyous Christmas.

The next day, December 26, about 8 o'clock in the morning, the court-martial of Rizal commenced. The hearing was actually a kind of moro-moro – a planned trial wherein Rizal, before hearing his verdict, had already been prejudged. Unlike other accused, Rizal had not been allowed to know the people who witnessed against him. The trial took place at Cuartel de España, a military building, with a court composed of seven military officers headed by Lt. Col. Jose Togores Arjona. Present at the courtroom were Jose Rizal, the six other officers in uniform (Capt. Ricardo Muñoz Arias, Capt. Manuel Reguera, Capt. Santiago Izquierdo Osorio, Capt. Braulio Rodriguez Nuñez, Capt. Manuel Diaz Escribano, and Capt. Fernando Perez Rodriguez), Lt. Taviel de Andrade, Judge Advocate Capt. Rafael Dominguez, Lt. Enrique de Alcocer (prosecuting attorney) and a number of spectators, including Josephine Bracken.

After Judge Advocate Dominguez opened the trial, it was followed by Atty. Alcocer's reiteration of the charges against Rizal, urging the court that the latter be punished with death. Accordingly, the three crimes accused to him were rebellion, sedition and illegal association – the penalty for the first two being life imprisonment to death, while the last, correctional imprisonment and a charge of 325 to 3,250 pesetas.

Lt. Taviel de Andrade, on the other hand, later took the floor reading his speech in defense of Rizal. To supplement this, Rizal read his own defense which he wrote in his cell in Fort Santiago. According to Rizal, there...