The Hague tribunal sentenced a Yugoslav general to eight years' jail today for failing to prevent an attack on civilians and destruction of protected buildings during the 1991 shelling of the historic Croatian city of Dubrovnik.
Pavle Strugar, who commanded Yugoslav forces during the Dubrovnik siege, was found guilty on two of six counts of violating laws of war by not doing enough to prevent the attack on civilian targets and for not punishing officers under his command responsible for it.
The court found Strugar not guilty of four other counts, which included murder, cruel treatment and unjustified devastation.
Two civilians died and three were wounded when forces under Strugar's command pounded the historic heart of Dubrovnik on December 6th, 1991, during the attack on the city known as the "Pearl of the Adriatic" on the picturesque Dalmatian coast.
"The Chamber would emphasize that you are not to be sentenced for ordering the attack on the old town (of Dubrovnik)," presiding judge Mr Kevin Parker said. "Your criminal liability arises because you failed to take adequate measures to stop the shelling of the old town and because you failed to ensure that those responsible for the attack were disciplined."
Dubrovnik's old town, largely made up of medieval and Renaissance buildings, suffered heavy damage when Yugoslav forces shelled it from land and sea after Croatia declared independence from Serbian-dominated Yugoslavia in 1991.
The war crimes tribunal in The Hague sentenced Yugoslav navy vice admiral Miodrag Jokic, who was under Strugar's command, to seven years in jail last year for the shelling.
Forces under Strugar's command shelled Dubrovnik, which had a mainly Croat population of 71,400, from high ground to the east and north of the city from where they had an unobstructed view of their target. At least six buildings were destroyed completely and hundreds were damaged.
UNESCO had declared the entire city of Dubrovnik a World Cultural Heritage Site and a number of its buildings and towers on the city wall were listed by a Hague convention for protection during a conflict.