If in my fight I can encourage even some people to understand and to abandon policies they now so blindly follow, I shall not regret any punishment I may incur.

I wish you to inform the Court that my absence though deliberate is not intended in any way to be disrespectful. In 1963 Bram and Molly were driving to Cape Town for their daughter's 21st birthday. After the verdict Bram Fischer visited the Rivonia trial prisoners on Robben Island to discuss the question of an appeal in their case.