Ben Roberts-Smith, the most decorated living Australian soldier, lost a historic defamation action against three newspapers after they accused him of committing war crimes in Afghanistan.
Due to articles that claimed he killed defenseless inmates, the sources were sued.
The civil trial marked the first time a court had considered claims that Australian personnel had committed war crimes.
A judge ruled that four of the six murder charges—all of which the soldier denied—were essentially true.
These comprised:
- The soldier had kicked a handcuffed farmer off a cliff, causing him to lose his teeth before being shot dead.
- A Taliban fighter was kidnapped and shot at least ten times in the rear before having his prosthetic limb removed as a trophy and being used as a drinking vessel by the military later.
- Mr. Roberts-Smith authorized or directed the execution of two killings in order to “blood” or initiate new soldiers.
Justice Anthony Besanko concluded that the publication had failed to substantiate two additional murder charges, as well as claims that Mr. Roberts-Smith had abused a lady with whom he was having an affair and a threat against a less experienced coworker.
However, more accusations that he had wrongfully abused prisoners and mistreated peers were proven to be accurate.
The claims against Mr. Roberts-Smith, who left the defense force in 2013, have not been brought against him in a criminal court, where the bar of proof is higher. The 44-year-old wasn’t there for the verdict on Thursday.
A Taliban spokesman claimed the case was evidence of “uncountable crimes” by foreign forces in Afghanistan after the ruling, but he also stated he did not trust any court in the world to pursue them.
Between 2001 and 2021, Australian forces were stationed in Afghanistan. Richard Marles, the Australian defense minister, declined to comment on the situation, stating that it was a civil matter.
The most well-known living war veteran in Australia, Mr. Roberts-Smith, was a member of the Special Air Service Regiment (SAS) of that nation.
He won the nation’s highest military honor, the Victoria Cross, in 2011 for defeating Taliban machine-gunners who were attacking his platoon on his own.
But in 2018, The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, and The Canberra Times began publishing exposes revealing his misbehavior between 2009 and 2012, shattering his public image.
Five of the killings mentioned in the newspapers, according to the soldier, happened legitimately while engaged in combat, while the sixth did not occur at all.
His libel case, nicknamed “the trial of the century” by some, lasted 110 days and is said to have cost up to A$25 million ($16.3 million, £13.2 million).
Over 40 witnesses provided remarkable testimony regarding every aspect of Mr. Roberts-Smith’s life, including Afghan civilians, a government minister, and a number of current and former SAS soldiers.