CANBERRA: Australia’s most decorated living soldier, Ben Roberts-Smith, has lost a historic defamation case against three newspapers that accused him of war crimes in Afghanistan, the BBC said.
The media outlets were sued concerning claims implying he murdered defenceless prisoners. The civil trial was the first time a court considered allegations of war crimes committed by Australian forces. A judge found that four of the six murder claims, all of which the soldier rejected, were essentially true.
These included a handcuffed farmer who was kicked off a cliff and had his teeth knocked out before being shot dead, a captured Taliban fighter who was shot at least 10 times in the back before his prosthetic leg was taken as a trophy and later used by troops as a drinking vessel, and two murders ordered or agreed to by Roberts-Smith to initiate or “blood” rookie soldiers.
Justice Anthony Besanko found that the newspaper had failed to prove two other murder charges, as well as reports that Roberts-Smith assaulted a woman with whom he was having an affair and threatened a junior colleague.
However, it was discovered that further charges that he had unlawfully attacked captives and bullied peers were true. Roberts-Smith, who left the force in 2013, has not been charged in a criminal court, where the burden of proof is higher. The 44-year-old was not in court for Thursday’s judgment.
Following the decision, a Taliban spokesman said the case showed “uncountable crimes” committed by foreign forces in Afghanistan, but he did not trust any global court to investigate them.
In recent years, soldiers from the United Kingdom and the United States have also been accused of war crimes. According to local media, dozens of Australian soldiers are being investigated for possible war crimes. So yet, however, only one person has been charged: Oliver Schulz.
Before the judgment, war historian Peter Stanley said that Roberts-Smith’s case was “a litmus test” for allegations of Australian wrongdoing in Afghanistan. He claims that the Ben Roberts-Smith case is merely the beginning of a major series of war crimes investigations, allegations, prosecutions, and even convictions in the coming years.
