War Hero Arrested: Australia’s Top Soldier in Shock Scandal
Australia’s top soldier Ben Roberts-Smith faces arrest over Afghanistan war crimes, with 5 murder charges linked to shocking battlefield allegations.
Australia's most decorated living soldier has been arrested and will face trial on charges of committing war crimes in Afghanistan.
Ben Roberts-Smith—who left the Defence Force in 2013—was taken into custody at Sydney Airport and is scheduled to appear in court on Tuesday to face five counts of the war crime of murder.
A 2023 defamation ruling found that the former Special Air Service (SAS) corporal and Victoria Cross recipient had murdered several unarmed Afghans.
The 47-year-old soldier denies all allegations against him and has previously stated that the accusations—which have not yet been investigated under criminal standards—are "extremely serious" and "malicious."
This civil trial marked the first time in history that a court had examined claims of war crimes committed by the Australian military.
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Roberts-Smith had argued that the alleged killings were either lawful acts of war or did not occur at all; last year, he lost his appeal against the Federal Court's ruling.
During a press conference in Sydney on Tuesday, the Australian Federal Police (AFP) confirmed the arrest of a 47-year-old former soldier, stating that he would be charged with murdering unarmed detainees while serving in Afghanistan between 2009 and 2012.
Commissioner Chrissy Barrett stated, "It will be alleged that the victims were shot by the accused, or by subordinate members of the ADF [Australian Defence Force] in the presence of and on the orders of the accused." In 2020, a landmark inquiry known as the 'Brereton Report' found "credible evidence" that elite Australian soldiers had unlawfully killed 39 people in Afghanistan, and it recommended that 19 current or former members of the ADF be investigated.
To carry this out, a specialized team—known as the 'Office of the Special Investigator' (OSI)—was established. To date, it has laid charges against only one other individual.
Ross Barnett, the Director of Investigations at the OSI, stated that Roberts-Smith's arrest represents a "significant step" taken under "challenging circumstances."
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"The OSI has been tasked with investigating dozens of alleged killings—acts alleged to have been committed in the heart of a war zone, in a country located 9,000 kilometers away from Australia," he said. "We cannot travel to that country; we have no access to the crime scenes... We lack information such as photographs, site plans, measurements, recovered ballistics, or blood-spatter analysis... and we have no access to the deceased."
Barnett further added that the allegations of misconduct were confined to "a very small fraction of our trusted and respected ADF."
"The vast majority of the ADF brings great pride to our nation," he said.
Earlier on Tuesday, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese stated that he would not comment on the matter, as it is currently before the courts.
"It is absolutely essential that there be no political interference in this process," he said.
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At the time when the Nine newspapers first published reports regarding these allegations in 2018, Roberts-Smith was widely regarded as a national hero; he had been awarded Australia's highest military honor for single-handedly subduing Taliban fighters who were attacking his SAS platoon. In an attempt to vindicate his name, he launched a high-profile legal battle—one that spanned seven years, cost millions of dollars, and was dubbed by some as Australia's "trial of the century."
However, a Federal Court judge—ruling on the balance of probabilities—found that Roberts-Smith was involved in at least four killings; this judgment was subsequently upheld on appeal.
Anthony Besanko found that Roberts-Smith had twice ordered the shooting of unarmed individuals so that new recruits could gain "blooding" experience; furthermore, he was implicated in the death of a farmer whom he had handcuffed and pushed off a cliff, as well as in the death of a captured Taliban fighter whose prosthetic leg he had kept as a "trophy"—a relic that soldiers later used as a drinking vessel.
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