SYDNEY — Australian authorities on Tuesday charged a 47-year-old former soldier with five counts of the war crime of murder over the alleged killings of unarmed Afghans while serving in Afghanistan between 2009 and 2012, police said.
The man, arrested at Sydney Airport earlier on Tuesday after arriving on a flight from Brisbane, is expected to face court on Wednesday. He will remain in custody overnight, the Australian Federal Police (AFP) said.
Australian Federal Police Commissioner Krissy Barrett told a news conference that the victims were detained, unarmed and under the control of Australian Defence Force members when they were allegedly killed. “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,” Barrett said.
The charges were laid under section 268.70(1) of the Criminal Code (Cth) following a joint investigation by the AFP and the Office of the Special Investigator (OSI). One charge alleges the former soldier intentionally caused the death of a person on or about 12 April 2009 at Kakarak in Uruzgan Province, Afghanistan. Other counts involve aiding, abetting, counselling or procuring the deaths of additional individuals during the same period.
Media outlets identified the accused as Ben Roberts-Smith, a former corporal in the Special Air Service Regiment (SAS) and Australia’s most decorated living veteran, who received the Victoria Cross and Medal of Gallantry for his service in Afghanistan. Police did not publicly name him in their statements. Roberts-Smith left the Defence Force in 2013.
The case is the second war crimes charge brought against an Australian veteran of the Afghanistan campaign. In 2023, former SAS soldier Oliver Schulz was charged with one count of the war crime of murder. He has pleaded not guilty and his trial is not expected before 2027.
The charges follow the 2020 Inspector-General of the Australian Defence Force Afghanistan Inquiry, known as the Brereton Report, which found credible evidence that Australian special forces unlawfully killed 39 people in Afghanistan between 2005 and 2016. The report recommended criminal investigation of 19 individuals.
The OSI, established to examine those allegations, has launched 53 investigations. Thirty-nine have been provisionally finalised, with 10 ongoing in addition to the current case, according to authorities.
A 2023 civil defamation judgment found that Roberts-Smith had killed or was complicit in the killing of several unarmed Afghans. Australia’s highest court later declined to hear his appeal against that finding. Roberts-Smith has previously denied wrongdoing.
As of Tuesday evening, the accused had not entered a plea. The maximum penalty for each war crime murder charge is life imprisonment. Details of the full prosecution case remain subject to court proceedings.
The OSI said further investigations into other matters continue. No additional charges have been announced.
