Florence Hartmann in the courtroom

The ICTY Registry notified the Appeals Chamber that the two installments of the € 7,000 fine imposed on the French journalist Florence Hartmann for contempt of court have not been received yet.

The letter to the Appeals Chamber states that the appellate judgment had rejected all grounds of appeal submitted by Hartman, and she therefore had to pay her fine in two installments of € 3,500 each. The first installment was to be paid by 18 August 2011 and the second was due by 19 September 2011. The Registrar also stated that Florence Hartmann’s defense lawyers received a copy of the judgment on 19 July 2011, on the day it was rendered. Ten days later, the convicted journalist was told in writing about the ‘appropriate manner’ in which the fine could be paid into the Tribunal’s account.

In mid-August, after the first installment of € 3,500 went into arrears, the Tribunal’s Registry informed the Appeals Chamber that the money was not in the Tribunal’s account. After that, a group of organizations and individuals who support Florence Hartmann issued a press release noting that the amount of € 3,500, collectedthrough voluntary contributions, has been deposited into a French bank account. The details of the account have been given to the Tribunal’s President.

The Support Committee for the convicted French journalist claims that the second installment has been paid and that the entire sum, € 7,000, is in the French bank account; the Tribunal’s President has been notified about the details. Copies of the letters sent to the Tribunal’s President on 16 August and 19 September 2011 were forwarded to the appropriate French authorities to let them know that the Tribunal may seek the transfer of the funds to the Tribunal’s account.

The Tribunal’s Registry apparently doesn’t consider this an ‘appropriate manner’ for the payment of the fine and notified the Appeals Chamber in its letter today that the fine hasn’t been paid. It remains to be seen what the Appeals Chamber will say on the matter and how Hartmann and her defense team will react.

On 19 July 2011, the Appeals Chamber confirmed the judgment, finding the former OTP spokesperson guilty of ‘willfully and deliberately disclosing the contents, alleged effects and confidential nature’ of two decisions in which the Appeals Chamber granted protective measures to the documents of the FRY’s Supreme Defense Council; Serbia had delivered those documents to the Tribunal for the purpose of Slobodan Milosevic’s trial. In the meantime, the Tribunal has made the documents available to the public; this fact, in the view of the Appeals Chamber, did in no way diminish the responsibility of the French journalist.

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