Onetime Aussie War Hero Charged With War Crimes

Australia's best-known war hero is now facing criminal charges tied to the conflict that made him famous. Ben Roberts-Smith, a former Special Air Service corporal and recipient of the Victoria Cross, was arrested at Sydney airport and is expected in court Tuesday on five counts of the war crime of murder, allegedly involving the killing of unarmed detainees in Afghanistan between 2009 and 2012. The 47-year-old, who left the military in 2013, has consistently rejected the accusations as false and malicious, notes the BBC. A 2023 civil defamation ruling found he had unlawfully killed several unarmed Afghans, a judgment he unsuccessfully appealed; these findings were at a lower standard of proof than in a criminal case.

"It will be alleged the victims were shot by the accused or shot by subordinate members of the ADF (Australian Defense Force) in the presence of, and acting on the orders of the accused," said federal police commissioner Krissy Barrett. Roberts-Smith's case is part of a wider probe launched after the 2020 Brereton Report identified "credible evidence" that elite troops unlawfully killed 39 people, though only one other person has been charged so far. War crime murder is a federal crime in Australia, notes the AP, and carries a sentence of up to life in prison.