The Hague - The former vice-admiral of the Yugoslav Navy responsible for the shelling of the historic city of Dubrovnik has been released after serving most of his sentence for war crimes, the UN war crimes tribunal said Tuesday.

Court president of the UN's International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, Fausto Pocar, announced in The Hague on Tuesday that Miodrag Jokic, 72, had on July 24 served two-thirds of his seven-year sentence for the destruction of Dubrovink and was being released in consideration of good conduct.

Jokic was the first member of the Serbian military to voluntarily attend the UN war crimes tribunal, in 2001. Jokic's forces bombarded Dubrovnik on December 6, 1991. He was convicted of an unlawful attack on civilians that killed two and wounded three.

The shelling caused serious damage in the World Heritage city. (dpa)