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Australian Veteran Ben Roberts-Smith Charged with War Crimes in Afghanistan
Ben Roberts-Smith, Australia's most decorated living veteran, faces charges related to five alleged unlawful killings in Afghanistan. The charges were listed in a Sydney court on Wednesday without a bail application. The case stems from a 2020 military report on Australian special forces actions.
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Ben Roberts-Smith, a 47-year-old Australian veteran awarded the Victoria Cross and Medal for Gallantry for service in Afghanistan, appeared in a Sydney court on Wednesday for war crime charges. He did not apply for bail during the listing of the charges. Roberts-Smith is the second Australian veteran from the Afghanistan campaign to face such charges.
The charges relate to the deaths of five Afghan individuals in 2009 and 2012 while Roberts-Smith served as a corporal in the Special Air Service in Uruzgan province. Australian Federal Police charged him on Tuesday with offenses connected to these incidents.
The court listed two counts of war crime murder and three counts of aiding or abetting war crime murder, each carrying a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.
the Allegations The charges specify actions at three locations.
On April 12, 2009, in Kakarak village, Roberts-Smith is alleged to have killed and caused a subordinate to kill an individual. On September 11, 2012, in Darwan village, he is alleged to have caused a subordinate to kill another individual. On October 20, 2012, in Syahchow village, Roberts-Smith is alleged to have killed and caused a subordinate to kill a third individual.
Under Australian law, war crime murder involves the intentional killing in an armed conflict context of a person not actively participating in hostilities, such as a civilian, prisoner of war, or wounded soldier. Police allege Roberts-Smith either shot the victims or ordered subordinates to do so.
The charges follow a 2020 military report that documented evidence of unlawful killings by Australian Special Air Service and commando regiment troops, including 39 Afghan prisoners, farmers, and other noncombatants.
Approximately 40,000 Australian personnel served in Afghanistan from 2001 to 2021, with 41 killed during the deployment. Roberts-Smith was arrested at Sydney Airport on Tuesday morning and spent the night in jail; he did not appear in court in person or by video link on Wednesday, and his lawyers entered no pleas.
