Australia’s most highly decorated living veteran, Ben Roberts-Smith, is reportedly facing charges related to war crimes. The allegations involve the killing of five unarmed Afghan individuals during his service in Afghanistan between 2009 and 2012, according to reports from police and media on Tuesday.
While police have not officially released the name of the 47-year-old ex-soldier apprehended on Tuesday, media outlets have identified him as Roberts-Smith. A former corporal in the Special Air Service Regiment, Roberts-Smith was honored with both the Victoria Cross and Medal of Gallantry for his actions in Afghanistan.
Authorities have indicated that Roberts-Smith is anticipated to make a court appearance in Sydney either late Tuesday or on Wednesday.
Roberts-Smith is only the second veteran from Australia’s Afghanistan mission to face war crime charges.
Previously, former SAS soldier Oliver Schulz, aged 44, was charged with war crime murder. He has entered a plea of not guilty to allegations of fatally shooting an Afghan man, Dad Mohammad, three times in the head in a wheatfield located in Uruzgan province in May 2012.
The charge of war crime murder, which can result in a life sentence, is considered a federal offense in Australia. It involves the deliberate killing of an individual who is not actively participating in combat, such as civilians, prisoners of war, or injured soldiers, within the context of an armed conflict.
Police arrested Roberts-Smith at Sydney Airport on Tuesday after he arrived on a flight from Brisbane, Australian Federal Police Commissioner Krissy Barrett said.
“It will be alleged that the victims were not taking part in hostilities at the time of their alleged murder in Afghanistan. It will be alleged the victims were detained, unarmed and were under the control of ADF members when they were killed,” Barrett told reporters, referring to the Australian Defense Force.
“It will be alleged the victims were shot by the accused or shot by subordinate members of the ADF in the presence of and acting on the orders of the accused,” Barrett added.
In September last year, Australia’s highest court removed Roberts-Smith’s last chance to clear his name of court findings that he unlawfully killed four Afghans.
The High Court said it would not hear his appeal against a federal judge’s civil court finding in 2023 that he likely killed noncombatants unlawfully in 2009 and 2012.
Three federal court judges had unanimously rejected his appeal against that ruling.
Roberts-Smith sued for defamation after several newspapers published articles in 2018 accusing him of a range of war crimes.
But while the civil courts found the war crimes allegations were mostly proven on a balance of probabilities, the new charges would have to be proved in a criminal court to a higher standard of beyond reasonable doubt.
The charges follow a military report released in 2020 that found evidence that elite Australian SAS and commando regiment troops unlawfully killed 39 Afghan prisoners, farmers and other noncombatants.
Barrett said few soldiers were involved in the new allegations.
“The alleged conduct related to these charges is confined to a very small section of our trusted and respected ADF which helps keep this country safe,” Barrett said.
“The overwhelming majority of our ADF do our country proud. Today’s charges are not reflective of the majority of members who serve under our Australian flag with honor, with distinction and with the values of a democratic nation,” she added.
The Office of the Special Investigator was established to work with police on the war crime allegations. The office’s director of investigations Ross Barnett said allegations of 53 war crimes had been investigated and 39 of those investigations had concluded without charges. Around 40,000 Australian military personnel served in Afghanistan between 2001 and 2021, of whom 41 were killed.
