Pavle Strugar failed to discipline those responsible

At least 50 people died and hundreds were wounded during the three-month siege of the medieval town.

The UN war crimes tribunal at The Hague ruled that he did not order the bombing but "failed to stop the attack when he could have done so".

Strugar was acquitted of four charges including the killing of two civilians.

He was found guilty of two war crimes charges - attacks on civilians and destruction or wilful damage done to historic monuments.

The judges ruled that Strugar also "failed to ensure that those responsible for the attack were disciplined".

Bosnian Muslim trial

The bombardment on 6 December 1991, which the court heard lasted more than 10 hours, destroyed much of Dubrovnik's protected Old Town, which has been a Unesco World Heritage site since 1979.

A retired vice-admiral in the Yugoslav army, Miodrag Jokic, pleaded guilty to war crimes at Dubrovnik and was sentenced to seven years in prison.

The war crimes tribunal at The Hague is also currently hearing the trial of the former head of the Bosnian army, Sefer Halilovic, over the killing of Bosnian Croat civilians during the civil war.

Mr Halilovic is the most senior Bosnian Muslim commander to face trial at the tribunal.

His charges relate to an operation code-named Neretva-93 - to retake territory controlled by Bosnian Croat forces and to end the blockade of the city of Mostar in 1993.

The BBC's Geraldine Coughlan at The Hague says many Serbs accuse the court of bias against them and claim it prosecutes more Serbs than members of other ethnic groups.