The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, ICTY, has issued a warrant for the arrest of its former spokeswoman, Florence Hartmann.
In a statement, the Hague tribunal said France was "directed and authorised to search for, arrest, detain and surrender promptly to the tribunal, Florence Hartmann." Hartmann is a French national.
Hartmann was convicted of contempt of court in 2009 for revealing confidential decisions during the trial of former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic, and appeals judges upheld the guilty verdict and a 7,000-euro ($9,500) fine in July.
But in an order issued on November 16, the court converted Hartmann's fine to a seven-day prison term and asked French authorities to find and arrest her so she can be transferred to The Hague to serve her time.
A former Balkans correspondent for Le Monde, Hartmann went to work for the Tribunal in 2000 as a spokesperson for the chief prosecutor, a position she held until 2006.
In a subsequent book, Peace and Punishment, and article, she disclosed the details of a decision by the Tribunal to withhold documents pertaining to Serbiaʼs involvement in the Srebrenica massacre in eastern Bosnia in 1995.
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