Australia Charges Its Most Decorated Living Soldier With Five War-Crime Murders in Afghanistan
Ben Roberts-Smith, a Victoria Cross recipient, was arrested at Sydney Airport and charged with five counts of war-crime murder for the killings of unarmed Afghans between 2009 and 2012. He faces life imprisonment.
Australian Federal Police arrested Ben Roberts-Smith, 47, at Sydney Domestic Airport on April 7 and charged him with five counts of war-crime murder under section 268.70(1) of the Criminal Code. Each charge carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.
Roberts-Smith is Australia's most decorated living soldier. He received the Victoria Cross in 2011 for single-handedly destroying two Taliban machine gun positions during the Shah Wali Kot Offensive in Uruzgan Province in 2010. He is a former corporal in the Special Air Service Regiment.
He is now accused of killing unarmed people who were not taking part in hostilities.
The Five Charges
All five incidents occurred in Uruzgan Province, Afghanistan:
| Date | Location | Charge |
|---|---|---|
| April 12, 2009 | Kakarak | Murder (intentional killing) |
| April 12, 2009 | Kakarak | Aiding and abetting murder |
| September 11, 2012 | Darwan | Aiding and abetting murder |
| October 20, 2012 | Syahchow | Joint murder (with another person) |
| October 20, 2012 | Syahchow | Aiding and abetting murder |
AFP Commissioner Krissy Barrett stated that "it will be alleged the victims were not taking part in hostilities at the time of their alleged murder in Afghanistan," and that police would allege the victims were shot by Roberts-Smith or by subordinates acting on his orders in his presence.
How This Got Here
The path to criminal charges took six years and started with a military inquiry that rewrote Australia's understanding of its Afghanistan war.
The Brereton Report, released in November 2020 after a four-year investigation by the Inspector-General of the Australian Defence Force, found credible evidence that elite Australian SAS and commando regiment soldiers unlawfully killed 39 Afghan prisoners, farmers, and other noncombatants between 2005 and 2016. It recommended criminal investigations into 19 current or former soldiers.
The Australian government established the Office of the Special Investigator to pursue those cases. A joint AFP-OSI investigation began in 2021.
In 2023, Roberts-Smith lost a defamation case he brought against media outlets that reported on the allegations. A Federal Court judge found, on the civil standard of proof, that Roberts-Smith had murdered four unarmed Afghan men and broken the rules of military engagement. Roberts-Smith subsequently resigned from his executive role at Seven Network.
The Broader Investigation
Roberts-Smith is only the second Australian Afghanistan veteran to face war-crime charges. The investigation's scope:
- 53 total investigations commenced by the AFP and OSI
- 39 closed due to insufficient evidence
- 10 remain ongoing
- 1 other former Special Forces soldier has been charged with one count of murder, with trial listed for February 2027 in the NSW Supreme Court
Roberts-Smith appeared in a New South Wales court on April 7. No further hearing dates have been announced.