Decorated Australian soldier Ben Roberts-Smith charged with killing 5 unarmed Afghans during war

Australian veteran Ben Roberts-Smith is facing war crimes charges for allegedly killing five unarmed Afghan civilians while serving in Afghanistan between 2009 and 2012, police and media reported on Tuesday.

The police have not yet confirmed the name of the former soldier, 47, who was arrested on Tuesday. But it has been widely reported in the media that he is Roberts-Smith, a former Regimental Special Air Service (SAS) officer who was awarded the Victoria Cross and the Medal of Gallantry for his service in Afghanistan.

On Tuesday, the police charged him with five counts of murder. He will be held overnight and will make his first court appearance on Wednesday, a police statement said.

He may apply for bail on Wednesday.

Killing a war crime carries a life sentence. It is a collective crime in Australia, which is defined as the intentional killing in the context of an armed conflict of a person neutral in the hostilities, such as civilians, prisoners of war or wounded soldiers.

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 suspected that the victims were not involved in the conflict when they were accused of killing in Afghanistan. It will be suspected that the victims were arrested, unarmed and under the authority of ADF members when they were killed,” Barrett told the media, speaking to the Australian Defense Force.

“It will be suspected that the victims were shot by the suspects or shot by members of the ADF present and acting on the orders of the suspects,” added Barrett.

He had previously sued the media

A civil court has already found similar allegations against Roberts-Smith in a defamation suit she brought after several newspapers published articles in 2018 accusing her of war crimes. In 2023, a federal judge dismissed Roberts-Smith’s claims and ruled that he may have unlawfully killed four former soldiers in 2009 and 2012.

Although the civil court found that the war crimes allegations were proven beyond a reasonable doubt, the new charges will have to be proven in the criminal court beyond a reasonable doubt.

In September, the High Court of Australia said it would not hear an appeal, ending Roberts-Smith’s chances of overturning the decision.

Nick McKenzie, a journalist who has been investigating the allegations against the soldier since 2017, expected his SAS colleagues to testify at the criminal trial as they did during the trial.

“He is investigating the alleged conduct of members of Australia’s most secretive military,” McKenzie said.

“For them to come out and say, ‘Yes, we served our country bravely like Ben Roberts-Smith did, alongside him in Afghanistan, but we saw things with our own eyes that we feel uncomfortable about.’ “These brave soldiers, some of them broke down after testifying, it was difficult for them to stand up and speak,” said McKenzie.

The charges follow a military report released in 2020 that found evidence that Australian SAS soldiers and commandos unlawfully killed 39 Afghan prisoners, farmers and other ex-combatants.

A special investigator’s office was then established to work with the police on alleged war crimes. The director of investigations in this office, Ross Barnett, said that 53 allegations of war crimes were investigated and 39 of these investigations ended without charges being brought.

About 40,000 Australian troops served in Afghanistan between 2001 and 2021, 41 of whom were killed.

Roberts-Smith is the second Australian veteran of the Afghanistan campaign to be charged with war crimes.

Former SAS soldier Oliver Schulz, 44, has pleaded not guilty to war crimes. He is accused of shooting Afghan man Dad Mohammad three times in the head in a wheat field in Uruzgan province in May 2012.