Arrest of Ben Roberts-Smith
Australia's most-decorated living soldier, Ben Roberts-Smith, has been arrested and will face charges related to alleged war crimes committed in Afghanistan. Roberts-Smith, who left the Australian Defence Force (ADF) in 2013, was detained at Sydney airport and is scheduled to appear in court on Tuesday. He faces five counts of the war crime of murder.
In 2023, a defamation judgment found that the former Special Air Service (SAS) corporal and Victoria Cross recipient had killed several unarmed Afghan individuals. Roberts-Smith, aged 47, denies all allegations and has described the claims—which have not yet been tested at a criminal standard—as
"egregious" and "spiteful".
Legal Background and Civil Trial
The civil trial marked the first occasion in Australian history where a court examined allegations of war crimes by Australian forces. Roberts-Smith contended that the alleged killings either occurred lawfully during combat or did not happen. He lost an appeal last year against the Federal Court’s findings.
Details of the Charges and AFP Statement
At a press conference in Sydney on Tuesday, the Australian Federal Police (AFP) confirmed the arrest of the 47-year-old former soldier. The AFP stated he would be charged with killing unarmed detainees during his service in Afghanistan between 2009 and 2012.
"It will be alleged the victims were shot by the accused or shot by subordinate members of the ADF (Australian Defence Force) in the presence of, and acting on the orders of the accused," Commissioner Krissy Barrett said.
Brereton Report and Investigations
In 2020, the Brereton Report, a landmark investigation, found
"credible evidence"that elite Australian soldiers unlawfully killed 39 people in Afghanistan. The report recommended that 19 current or former soldiers be investigated.
Following this, the Office of the Special Investigator (OSI) was established to conduct these investigations. To date, OSI has charged only one other individual besides Roberts-Smith.
Ross Barnett, OSI’s director of investigations, described Roberts-Smith’s arrest as a
"significant step"taken under
"challenging circumstances."
"The OSI has been tasked with investigating literally dozens of murders alleged to have been committed in the middle of a war zone in a country 9,000 kilometers from Australia," he said. "We can't go to that country, we don't have access to the crime scenes… We don't have photographs, site plans, measurements, the recovery of projectiles, blood spatter analysis… We don't have access to the deceased."
AFP Commissioner’s Remarks on ADF Conduct
Commissioner Barrett emphasized that allegations of misconduct are limited to
"a very small section of our trusted and respected ADF."She added,
"The majority of the ADF do our country proud."
Background on Roberts-Smith’s Reputation and Legal Battle
When Nine newspapers first reported the allegations in 2018, Roberts-Smith was regarded as a national hero, having received Australia’s highest military honor for single-handedly overpowering Taliban fighters attacking his SAS platoon.
In response to the allegations, Roberts-Smith initiated a high-profile legal battle to clear his name. The litigation lasted seven years, cost millions of dollars, and was described by some as Australia’s
"trial of the century."
However, a Federal Court judge ruled on the balance of probabilities that Roberts-Smith participated in at least four murders. This judgment was upheld on appeal.
Justice Anthony Besanko found that Roberts-Smith had twice ordered unarmed men to be shot dead to
"blood" rookie soldiersand was involved in the deaths of a handcuffed farmer who was kicked off a cliff, as well as a captured Taliban fighter whose prosthetic leg was taken as a trophy and later used by troops as a drinking vessel.
