"The investigation into war crimes in the area of Dubrovnik was launched in 1992 and it covers 28 members of the former JNA Air Force," the spokesman for the Dubrovnik prosecution, Vlatko Cibilic, told Hina today.
"We cannot give any more details about the investigation as this is a long-term procedure in which we have asked neighbouring countries to help," Cibilic said, declining to reveal names of those 28 suspects.
The topic has come into the media limelight with the hearings of former pilots Zoran Slavuljica, Asim Pandzic and Miodrag Atanackovic before the Podgorica High Court on Monday and Tuesday. They dismissed the charges.
The investigation against those three former JNA pilots was launched by the Montenegrin prosecution on the basis of an agreement between the Montenegrin and Croatian judiciaries.
Croatian prosecutors believe the three pilots were a part of a larger group that committed war crimes in Dubrovnik and caused the destruction of historical monuments there. Montenegrin prosecutors are helping them in gathering data.
The Belgrade-based Vecernje Novosti on Thursday published a list of 28 pilots whom the Croatian judiciary holds responsible for the shelling of Dubrovnik.
The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) has already convicted a former commander of the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) naval sector Boka, Miodrag Jokic, to seven years in prison, and JNA General Pavle Strugar, the commanding officer in the JNA siege of Dubrovnik, to seven and a half years in prison for the shelling of Dubrovnik.
In the attacks, dozens of people died and the old city core, listed on the UNESCO World Heritage list, was badly damaged.