Ben Roberts-Smith charged with murder: Everything you need to know<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\nConvicted former soldier Ben Roberts-Smith was arrested at Sydney Airport and is expected to be charged with five counts of murder. The Australian Federal Police (AFP) allege that the victims were unarmed Afghan civilians who were not participating in hostilities at the time of their deaths. <\/p>\n
While the allegations of his involvement in four deaths in a 2023 defamation trial were found to be substantially true on the balance of probabilities, he has not yet been found guilty under the criminal standard. Roberts-Smith’s legal attempts to overturn the defamation findings failed in the Federal Court, and the High Court declined to hear her case in September. <\/p>\n
Roberts-Smith has maintained his innocence, previously calling the allegations against him serious and malicious. These allegations are the result of a complex and careful investigation conducted by AFP<\/i> and the Office of Special Investigator (OSI) from 2021. Furthermore, it has been alleged that he intentionally caused the death of a person in April 2009 and assisted someone else in causing death in another incident, in Kakarak.<\/p>\n
Regarding the arrest, OSI Director of Investigations Ross Barnett said that Mr. Roberts-Smith’s arrest was a “significant step” under “challenging circumstances” and that he was “entitled to the presumption of innocence until determined otherwise.” <\/p>\n
Mr Roberts-Smith’s case is one of 53 war crimes allegations the agency is investigating from 2021. This is the second time an Australian soldier has been charged with such crimes. In this regard, Commissioner Barrett said: “The alleged conduct related to these allegations is limited to a very small segment of our trusted and respected ADF, who keep our nation safe.”<\/p>\n
Asked whether the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions had sought authorization from the federal government before Mr Roberts-Smith’s arrest, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese declined to comment further. <\/p>\n
He said: “This is a case in which it is very important that there is no political involvement in it, because it is now the subject of legal proceedings.”<\/p>\n
He launched a high-profile legal battle to clear his name \u2013 which lasted seven years, cost millions of dollars and was dubbed by some as Australia’s “trial of the century”.<\/p>\n
In 2023 the Australian War Memorial (AWM) added information to the text of a display to reflect the Federal Court’s findings earlier that year. A federal court judge found, on the balance of probabilities, that he had participated in at least four murders, a decision that was later confirmed on appeal. <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n