SYDNEY: Australia’s most embellished dwelling soldier was arrested on Tuesday (Apr 7) and can be charged with 5 counts of warfare crime murders referring to the killing of unarmed civilians whereas on deployment in Afghanistan.
The person, whom police recognized as a 47-year-old former Australian Defence Drive (ADF) member and media named as Ben Roberts-Smith, was arrested at Sydney Airport on Tuesday morning.
He can be charged with 5 counts of warfare crimes in connection to the homicide of 5 individuals in Afghanistan between 2009 and 2012, Australian Federal Police (AFP) mentioned. The utmost penalty for every cost is life imprisonment.
Roberts-Smith was hailed as a nationwide hero after being awarded a number of prime navy honours, together with the Victoria Cross, for his actions throughout six excursions of Afghanistan from 2006 to 2012.
“It is going to be alleged the victims weren’t collaborating in hostilities on the time of their alleged homicide in Afghanistan,” AFP Commissioner Krissy Barrett instructed a press convention.
“It is going to be alleged the victims had been detained, unarmed and had been underneath the management of ADF members once they had been killed.”
Police would additionally allege the victims had been shot by the accused or shot by subordinates appearing on his orders and in his presence, she mentioned.
Roberts-Smith has constantly denied allegations of wrongdoing throughout his service, a few of which had been first reported by 9 Leisure newspapers in a collection of articles beginning in 2018.
Among the many accusations reported had been that Roberts-Smith had shot lifeless an unarmed Afghan teenager and kicked a handcuffed man off a cliff earlier than ordering him to be shot lifeless.
Roberts-Smith unsuccessfully challenged the reviews in what grew to become Australia’s costliest defamation trial, with a Federal Court docket decide ruling in 2023 the newspapers proved 4 of the six homicide accusations they levelled.
A ultimate enchantment bid was dismissed by the Excessive Court docket in September 2025.
A 2020 report discovered credible proof that members of Australia’s Particular Air Service Regiment (SAS) killed dozens of unarmed prisoners within the prolonged Afghan warfare.
An investigation into the SAS soldier by the AFP and the Workplace of the Particular Investigator (OSI), set as much as look at allegations of warfare crimes by Australian defence forces in Afghanistan, was opened in 2021.
Ross Barnett, director of investigations on the OSI, mentioned the method was complicated and time-consuming as a result of authorities had been unable to go to Afghanistan and entry the crime scenes.
“We do not have entry to the crime scenes, we do not have pictures, web site plans, measurements, the restoration of projectiles, blood spatter evaluation, all of these issues we’d usually get at against the law scene,” he mentioned on the press convention.
The joint OSI-AFP commenced 53 investigations involving allegations of warfare crimes by ADF members in Afghanistan, with 10 ongoing. One other former particular forces soldier is because of face trial for warfare crime homicide subsequent February, the OSI mentioned.
“If the proof results in different individuals needing to be charged, you might be assured that can occur,” Barnett added.
Police mentioned the accused man would seem earlier than an area court docket within the state of New South Wales in a while Tuesday.
Roberts-Smith’s lawyer for his defamation trial didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
