I read a disturbing article in Le Monde about a former Le Monde journalist who is facing serious charges by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY). The UN body is mandated to prosecute individuals for egregious crimes against humanity. And on August 8, 2008, the Hague Tribunal decided to prosecute journalist Florence Hartmann for contempt:
She now faces 7 years prison and a 100,000 Euro fine.
This is disturbing. The Hague Tribunal should be prosecuting and sentencing war criminals, not journalists. So what exactly did Hartmann say or reveal to deserve this? According to Le Monde article, Hartmann questioned the motivations behind the court descision to restrict access to the Belgrade archives.
That's it. Oh, and she made the fatal mistake of publishing a book (in French) Paix et chatiment: Les guerres secretes de la politique et de la justice internationales, Flammarion, 2007. (my translation: Peace and Punishment: Secret political wars and International Justice.)
Mrs. Hartmann also happens to be a former spokeswoman for Chief Prosecutor Carla del Ponte of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY). So she knows a thing or two about how the Hague Tribunal works.
