The District Military Court in Warsaw has issued an arrest warrant for Helena Wolinska, an elderly communist-era former prosecutor now living in England.

Wolinska, 79, is accused of being responsible for the 1952 arrest and subsequent execution of wartime resistance leader Gen August Fieldorf-Nil.

The Polish news agency PAP said the Polish authorities may now put forward a formal application for the extradition of Wolinska to the British authorities, where she has lived since the early 1970s.

"The military prosecutor's office has issued an arrest order for Wolinska in consequence of her non-appearance at a hearing in Poland," the agency said.

If Wolinska stands before a Polish court she would be liable to between six months and 10 years imprisonment, the agency said.

She has denied the accusation.

In statements to the British press she has called the actions of the prosecutor's office "a witch-hunt" and claims she cannot count on a fair trial in Poland, PAP reported.