Australia's Most Decorated Soldier Ben Roberts-Smith Charged With War Crimes

Ben Roberts-Smith, Australia's most decorated living soldier, was arrested at Sydney Airport on Tuesday, April 7, 2026, and charged with five counts of "war crime — murder" over the deaths of five Afghan nationals between 2009 and 2012. Australian Federal Police Commissioner Krissy Barrett confirmed at a press conference that the victims were unarmed, detained, and not participating in hostilities at the time of their deaths. Roberts-Smith, 47, had arrived at Sydney Airport on a flight from Brisbane when he was taken into custody. Court records named him as the accused, though the AFP's formal statement referred only to a 47-year-old former member of the Australian Defence Force. The maximum penalty for each of the five charges is life imprisonment. Roberts-Smith was denied bail and was scheduled to appear before a court in Sydney on Wednesday, April 8, 2026.

AFP commissioner details the alleged killings in Afghanistan Barrett alleged that the five victims were shot either by Roberts-Smith directly or by subordinate members of the ADF acting under his orders and in his presence. The alleged killings took place in Uruzgan Province, Afghanistan, across incidents spanning 2009 to 2012. Police alleged that the victims were "detained, unarmed, and under the control of ADF members when they were killed." Among the specific accusations reported by Australian media were that Roberts-Smith shot dead an unarmed Afghan teenager and kicked a handcuffed man off a cliff before ordering him to be shot. Reports also alleged he participated in the shooting of a man with a prosthetic leg. Roberts-Smith has consistently denied all allegations of wrongdoing throughout his service and the subsequent legal proceedings. „It will be alleged that the victims were not taking part in hostilities at the time of their alleged murder in Afghanistan.” — Krissy Barrett via Reuters

Defamation trial loss and failed High Court appeal preceded arrest The criminal charges follow years of civil litigation that Roberts-Smith initiated in an attempt to clear his name. In 2018, Nine Entertainment newspapers — including The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, and The Canberra Times — published a series of articles accusing him of killing or being complicit in the killing of unarmed Afghans. Roberts-Smith sued the three outlets for defamation in what became described as Australia's most expensive defamation trial. A Federal Court judge ruled in 2023 that the newspapers had proved four of the six murder accusations they levelled, applying the civil standard of proof on the balance of probabilities — a lower threshold than the beyond-reasonable-doubt standard required in criminal proceedings. Roberts-Smith's subsequent attempts to overturn that ruling failed, and the High Court of Australia dismissed his final appeal in September 2025. The joint investigation by the AFP and the Office of the Special Investigator into Roberts-Smith was opened in 2021. Ross Barnett, director of investigations at the OSI, noted at the press conference that the investigation was complicated by the inability of authorities to access the alleged crime scenes in Afghanistan, meaning investigators lacked photographs, site plans, and forensic evidence typically available at crime scenes.

Roberts-Smith is only the second Australian charged with war crimes Roberts-Smith is only the second Australian to face charges of this nature, and his case is considered the most high-profile military prosecution in the country's history. His arrest is part of a broader reckoning with alleged conduct by Australian special forces in Afghanistan. A 2020 report by Paul Brereton, commissioned by the Inspector-General of the Australian Defence Force, found credible evidence that members of Australia's Special Air Service Regiment killed dozens of unarmed prisoners during the Afghan war, outlining 39 murders of civilians and prisoners by Australian soldiers. The report implicated 25 commandos. In 2023, former special forces soldier Oliver Schulz was arrested and charged with the killing of one Afghan civilian, pleading not guilty, with his trial set for the following year. The AFP and OSI have conducted 53 investigations into potential war crimes by ADF members in Afghanistan, with ten still ongoing as of the time of Roberts-Smith's arrest. Roberts-Smith had served six tours of Afghanistan between 2006 and 2012 as a patrol commander in the Special Air Service Regiment, and received both the Victoria Cross — Australia's highest military honour — and the Medal for Gallantry. He was named Australia's Father of the Year in 2013, the same year he left the army. 53 (investigations) — AFP-OSI probes into alleged ADF war crimes in Afghanistan A trial, if it proceeds, could expose further details about the conduct of Australian forces during the two-decade conflict in Afghanistan, which lasted from 2001 to 2021.

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