Ben Roberts-Smith to Remain in Custody Over Alleged Afghanistan War Crimes

Ben Roberts-Smith, Australia's most decorated living soldier, will remain in custody after his legal team declined to seek bail at a hearing on Wednesday, April 8, 2026, following his arrest the previous day on five counts of the war crime of murder. Roberts-Smith, 47, a former member of the elite Special Air Service Regiment, was taken into custody at Sydney Airport on Tuesday morning and transferred overnight to Silverwater Correctional Complex in Sydney's west. The charges relate to the deaths of five Afghan civilians in Uruzgan province between April 2009 and October 2012, with each count carrying a maximum penalty of life imprisonment. His arrest marks the most significant criminal proceeding to emerge from a years-long investigation into alleged misconduct by Australian special forces in Afghanistan.

Charges span three separate incidents in Uruzgan province The five charges against Roberts-Smith cover three distinct alleged incidents in Afghanistan. According to reporting by El Periódico, the charges relate to the deaths of two Afghan men at a location known as Whiskey 108 in Kakarak in 2009, the death of a man named Ali Jan in Darwan in 2012, and the deaths of two civilians in Syahchow in 2012. In the Ali Jan case, a federal court previously determined in civil proceedings that Roberts-Smith kicked the man in the chest, causing him to fall from a cliff, and then ordered another soldier to shoot him. In the criminal case, Roberts-Smith faces one charge of war crime murder, one of jointly commissioning a murder, and three of aiding, abetting, counselling or procuring a murder, according to the BBC. „It will be alleged the victims were shot by the accused or shot by subordinate members of the ADF in the presence of, and acting on the orders of, the accused” — Krissy Barrett via BBC Barrett, the Australian Federal Police Commissioner, also stated that the alleged misconduct was confined to a very small section of the Australian Defence Force and that the majority of the country's armed forces do the country proud.

No bail application made; next court date set for June Roberts-Smith did not appear via video link at his Wednesday morning bail hearing, according to Reuters. His lawyer, Jordan Portokalli, told the court that no application for bail would be made, and instead sought an in-person hearing for later in the day. Judge Lucas Swan ordered the case to be mentioned again on June 4, 2026, at the Downing Centre local court in Sydney, meaning Roberts-Smith will remain at Silverwater Correctional Complex until that date unless his legal team secures an earlier hearing. Portokalli acknowledged that a request for an earlier listing might be a "pipe dream," according to The Guardian. Roberts-Smith has consistently denied all allegations of wrongdoing, with the BBC reporting he has called the claims "egregious" and "spiteful."

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Criminal case follows a landmark defamation defeat and broader inquiry The criminal charges are the culmination of a joint investigation between the AFP and the Office of the Special Investigator, which began in 2021. The investigation grew out of a broader military inquiry whose findings were published in 2020, concluding that members of Australian special forces had unlawfully killed 39 civilians and prisoners in Afghanistan, with summary executions and other abuses documented. Roberts-Smith himself initiated the defamation proceedings against Nine Entertainment newspapers, making it the most expensive defamation trial in Australian history, according to Reuters. The judge in that civil case found, on the balance of probabilities, that there was substantial truth to allegations that Roberts-Smith had been involved in the murder of four Afghan civilians. A conviction in the criminal case will require a higher standard of proof, and El Periódico noted that the absence of expert forensic evidence and the impossibility of conducting autopsies may present challenges for prosecutors, leaving witness testimony as a central pillar of the case. According to 20minutes, another former Australian soldier arrested in March 2023 is separately scheduled to stand trial in February 2027, indicating that the Roberts-Smith case is not an isolated prosecution.

Australia deployed nearly 39,000 soldiers to Afghanistan over the course of the conflict. A military investigation published in 2020, commonly known as the Brereton Report, concluded that members of Australian special forces had unlawfully killed 39 civilians and prisoners, documenting summary executions and other abuses. The report led to the establishment of the Office of the Special Investigator to examine possible criminal prosecutions. The defamation proceedings initiated by Roberts-Smith against Nine Entertainment newspapers were the first time any court had examined claims of war crimes by Australian forces, according to the BBC. Roberts-Smith received the Victoria Cross in 2011, Australia's highest military decoration, awarded for exceptional gallantry in battle.