The UN war crimes court has indicted several people for war crimes committed by the Yugoslav army in 1991 for its attack on the southern port of Dubrovnik in secessionist Croatia, the tribunal said in a statement today.
"Several individuals have been charged with grave breaches of the Geneva Convention and with violations of the laws or customs of war," the statement said.
The specific accusations include "murder, cruel treatment, attacks on civilians, devastation not justified by military necessity . . . destruction of historic monuments and plunder of private property".
The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia did not reveal the names of those indicted but said the accusations were "related to the 1991 attacks by the Yugoslav People's Army on the city and surrounding areas of Dubrovnik".
Dubrovnik, known as the "pearl of the Adriatic", came under heavy shelling from Serb gunners in October 1991 when Croatia broke away from Yugoslavia in a conflict that preceded the 1992-95 war between Bosnia's Moslems, Serbs and Croats.
AFP