Ben Roberts-Smith, Australia’s most decorated living soldier, has lost a major libel lawsuit against three newspapers. In 2018, the newspapers accused Roberts-Smith, 44, of war crimes committed in Afghanistan between 2009 and 2012, including killing six Afghans while on missions in Afghanistan.
Veteran Roberts-Smith has not been convicted of the crimes and has no criminal cases against him, but the judge still ruled that the newspapers The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and The Canberra Times had sufficiently substantiated their allegations in four of their six murder charges. Australia’s defense minister declined to comment on the ruling because it is a civil matter.
Prosthetic leg as a drinking chalice
Roberts-Smith, who served as a patrol commander at the time, reportedly kicked a handcuffed Afghan farmer off a cliff, knocking his teeth out during the fall. Then the man would have been executed. A captured Taliban fighter is said to have been shot at least ten times in the back, after which his prosthetic leg was taken as a trophy and used as a drinking chalice. Two more Afghans are said to have been killed under Roberts-Smith’s supervision to “green up” new recruits. Roberts-Smith denies all allegations. According to the veteran, five of the six murders took place during gunfights. The latter would never have happened in the first place.
The accusations are in stark contrast to the reputation the soldier enjoyed in his own country. Between 1996 and 2015, Roberts-Smith served in the Australian armed forces. In 2003 he joined the Australian elite unit SASR. He served in Iraq, Afghanistan and East Timor. He was awarded Australia’s highest military decoration, the Victoria Cross, of which only five have been awarded. He faced enemy combatants several times at the risk of his life in order to protect his comrades.
‘Father of the Year’
Roberts-Smith was a welcome figurehead of the Australian armed forces, even after his military retirement. Named Father of the Year in 2013, he regularly appears as a speaker at major events and his uniform is displayed in the war museum in Canberra. He fell from his pedestal in 2018 after his mission misconduct was exposed by the three Australian newspapers.
The case that Roberts-Smith brought against the newspapers was extensive: the case lasted 110 days and cost more than 15 million euros. Afghan witnesses and veterans and serving military personnel of the SASR, as well as Roberts-Smith’s ex-wife and ex-girlfriend, have been heard during the case. Investigative journalist Nick McKenzie, one of the authors of the revealing articles, said during a press conference outside the courtroom: “This is a day of justice for the brave men of the SASR who came forward and told the truth about who Ben Roberts-Smith really is.” He continued that “today is also a day for a little bit of justice for the Afghan victims of Roberts-Smith.”
‘Toxic’ competition
The Australian Armed Forces (ADF) has been under a magnifying glass for war crimes committed during the war in Afghanistan since 2020. Then the inspection service of the ADF published a damning report which provided evidence for 39 killings carried out by 25 Australian servicemen in Afghanistan from 2009. Elite units in particular were involved in a ‘toxic’ competition. Afghan civilians and prisoners were murdered by way of hazing, and soldiers placed weapons near corpses to create the illusion of a legitimate firefight. According to the report, senior officers within the ADF bear responsibility, but it was mainly the patrol commanders, as Roberts-Smith was, who incited the war crimes. So far, one SASR member, Oliver Schulz, has been charged.
Read also Australian soldiers committed 39 murders in Afghanistan