Decorated Australian Veteran Ben Roberts-Smith Arrested on War Crime Charges
Australia’s most highly decorated living veteran, Ben Roberts-Smith, is facing severe legal action after being apprehended on suspicion of committing atrocities during his deployments to Afghanistan, Australian Federal Police (AFP) reports.
Ben Roberts-Smith was taken into custody at Sydney airport on Tuesday. The 47-year-old former Special Air Service (SAS) corporal, who departed the military in 2013, will spend the night in a police cell before a scheduled bail hearing on Wednesday. Authorities have formally accused the Victoria Cross recipient of five separate war crime charges related to murder.
Details of the charges and investigations
During a press briefing in Sydney, the AFP detailed the accusations. They allege that between 2009 and 2012 the former serviceman unlawfully killed unarmed detainees. The specific charges include one count of murder, one of jointly commissioning a murder and three counts of aiding, abetting, counselling or procuring murder.
AFP Commissioner Krissy Barrett stated that the victims were allegedly shot either by the accused directly or by junior Australian Defence Force (ADF) personnel acting under his command and in his presence. She stressed that these allegations relate to a tiny fraction of the military and that the vast majority of ADF personnel serve with distinction.
The charges stem from the work of the Office of the Special Investigator (OSI), a taskforce established following the 2020 Brereton Report. That landmark inquiry uncovered credible evidence linking elite Australian troops to 39 unlawful killings.
Ross Barnett, the OSI’s director of investigations, highlighted the immense difficulty of building these cases. He pointed out the monumental challenge of investigating alleged murders that occurred over a decade ago in a conflict zone 9,000 kilometres away without any access to crime scenes, forensic evidence or the deceased.
So far, Roberts-Smith is only the second individual to face charges from this specific taskforce.
Civil defamation battle
Before these criminal proceedings, Roberts-Smith was involved in a massive civil dispute regarding the exact same allegations. After Nine newspapers published the explosive claims in 2018, the veteran launched a multi-million-dollar defamation lawsuit to clear his name.
He maintained that any deaths occurred lawfully during combat or were entirely fabricated, dismissing the accusations as spiteful and egregious. However, in an unprecedented 2023 ruling, Federal Court judge Anthony Besanko concluded on the balance of probabilities that the former soldier had indeed participated in at least four murders.
Roberts-Smith lost an appeal against this verdict last year.
The civil trial findings painted a grim picture of the veteran’s conduct. The judge determined that Roberts-Smith had ordered the execution of two unarmed prisoners as a way to «blood» inexperienced soldiers.
He was also found to be involved in the death of a captured Taliban combatant whose prosthetic leg was taken as a morbid souvenir and used as a drinking vessel by troops.
Reportedly, he had also kicked a handcuffed farmer off a cliff before the man was killed. It is important to note that these civil findings were not assessed at the stricter criminal standard of proof that will apply in his upcoming trial.
Political and cultural fallout
The legal developments have sent shockwaves through the nation. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese refused to comment directly on the ongoing judicial matters on Tuesday, insisting that political interference must be avoided.
Meanwhile, the Australian War Memorial confirmed it would conduct another review of its display dedicated to the former national hero. The institution has already updated the plaque alongside his medals and uniform multiple times to reflect the unfolding legal drama and the devastating outcome of his defamation trial.
