{"id":314841,"date":"2026-04-07T15:54:07","date_gmt":"2026-04-07T10:24:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/?p=314841"},"modified":"2026-04-07T15:54:07","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T10:24:07","slug":"australias-most-decorated-living-soldier-charged-with-war-crimes-in-afghanistan-news-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/2026\/04\/07\/australias-most-decorated-living-soldier-charged-with-war-crimes-in-afghanistan-news-world\/","title":{"rendered":"Australia&#8217;s most-decorated living soldier charged with war crimes in Afghanistan | News World"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"video-player\">\n<div class=\"video-player\">\n<div class=\"metro-video-player  \" data-track-module=\"article_video-player-with-related-carousel\">\n<div class=\"vjs-video-container vjs-fixed vjs-responsive\">\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t<video id=\"3631575\" class=\"video-js\" 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Cross for Australia recipient Ben Roberts-Smith has been arrested in relation to multiple counts of murdering unarmed Afghan civilians and prisoners.\",\"title\":\"Australia's most decorated soldier arrested over alleged war crimes\",\"videoId\":3631575}\" preload=\"metadata\" playsinline=\"\"><source src=\"https:\/\/videos.metro.co.uk\/video\/met\/2026\/04\/07\/8503127688346487526\/480x270_MP4_8503127688346487526.mp4\" type=\"video\/mp4\"><\/source><\/p>\n<p class=\"vjs-no-js\">To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to an internet<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tbrowser that<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/videojs.com\/html5-video-support\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">supports HTML5<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tvideo<\/a><\/p><\/video>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>A person hailed as a hero is facing a trial for the murder of 5 unarmed civilians throughout the war in Afghanistan. <\/p>\n<p>Ben Roberts-Smith, 47, a former Australian Defence Force member, was arrested at Sydney Airport and charged with five counts of war crimes.<\/p>\n<p>He was deployed in Afghanistan between 2009 and 2012, and faces five counts of murder and war crimes for the killing of 5 people.<\/p>\n<p>Roberts-Smith served six tours in Afghanistan between 2006 and 2012, before being lauded with several top military honours. <\/p>\n<p>Australian Federal Police commissioner Krissy Barrett said: \u2018It is going to be alleged the victims weren&#8217;t collaborating in hostilities on the time of their alleged murder in Afghanistan.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>She added that the victims were initially detained, while unarmed, and were under the charge of Australian soldiers after they were murdered.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"img-container shareable-item wp-caption\">\n<div class=\"img-wrap\">\n\t\t\t<\/div><figcaption>Roberts-Smith previously faced trial in a civil court (Picture: EPA)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Roberts-Smith has denied the entire allegations, which first surfaced after an investigation in 2018.<\/p>\n<p>In 2023, he quit his job after a civil court blamed him for unlawfully killing 4 people while he served in\u00a0Afghanistan.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/embed.acast.com\/%24\/35d3734f-1e29-4d0b-a646-15776be08249\" width=\"100%\" height=\"120px\" class=\"metro-iframe iframe-autoheight \" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" name=\"69d4db463dfd8\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Now, the Australian Federal Police investigation into Roberts-Smith, which began in 2021, has led to his arrest.<\/p>\n<p>Ross Barnett, director of investigations on the Office of the Special Investigator, which is assisting within the case, said the method has been complex.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018We don\u2019t have access to the crime scenes, we don\u2019t have photographs, site plans, measurements, the recovery of projectiles, blood spatter evaluation, all of those things we might normally get at against the law scene,\u2019 he said.<\/p>\n<p>Roberts-Smith is facing mounting calls to be stripped of his quite a few awards during service, including the distinguished Victoria Cross.<\/p>\n<p>He\u2019s set to look before a court for a bail hearing on Wednesday in Recent South Wales. <\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What&#8217;s Roberts-Smith accused of?<\/h2>\n<figure class=\"img-container shareable-item wp-caption\">\n<div class=\"img-wrap\">\n\t\t<img width=\"646\" height=\"431\" src=\"https:\/\/metro.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/SEI_292265131-8b14.jpg?quality=90&#038;strip=all&#038;w=646\" class=\"article-image wp-image-27882812\" alt=\"CORRECTION \/ (FILES) A file photo taken on May 1, 2025 shows former member of Australia's elite Special Air Service regiment Ben Roberts-Smith leaving the Federal Court in Sydney. Police arrested on April 7, 2026, one of Australia's most-decorated soldiers for alleged war crimes in Afghanistan, local media reported, following a sweeping investigation into the conduct of the nation's elite commandos. The Australian Federal Police said they arrested a 47-year-old former Australian soldier, who was widely named in local media as Victoria Cross recipient Ben Roberts-Smith. (Photo by Saeed KHAN \/ AFP via Getty Images) \/ \"The erroneous mention[s] appearing in the metadata of this photo by Saeed KHAN has been modified in AFP systems in the following manner: removing on April 7, 2025 from the second sentence. Please immediately remove the erroneous mention[s] from all your online services and delete it (them) from your servers. If you have been authorized by AFP to distribute it (them) to third parties, please ensure that the same actions are carried out by them. Failure to promptly comply with these instructions will entail liability on your part for any continued or post notification usage. Therefore we thank you very much for all your attention and prompt action. We are sorry for the inconvenience this notification may cause and remain at your disposal for any further information you may require.\"\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\">\t<\/div><figcaption>Roberts-Smith served in Afghanistan between 2006 and 2012 (Picture: AFP)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Roberts-Smith is facing charges of war crimes and murder in Afghanistan while serving as an Australian soldier.<\/p>\n<p>Anthony Besanko, a federal judge within the court of Australia, previously found on the balance of probabilities that he had taken part in at the least 4 murders.<\/p>\n<p>The court on the time heard that Roberts-Smith had ordered unarmed men in Afghanistan to be shot dead to \u2018blood\u2019 rookie soldiers on two occasions.<\/p>\n<p>He was also found to have been involved within the deaths of a handcuffed farmer, whom he kicked off a cliff.<\/p>\n<p>In one other instance, he captured a Taliban fighter and used his prosthetic leg as a trophy and \u2018drinking vessel\u2019. <\/p>\n<p>Roberts-Smith has denied any wrongdoing. <\/p>\n<p class=\"\"><strong><strong><strong>Get in contact with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"\"><strong>For more stories like this, <\/strong><strong>check our news page<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"metro-more-link\"><svg><title>Arrow<\/title>\n<use xlink:href=\"#common-right-arrow\" href=\"#common-right-arrow\"><\/use><\/svg><span class=\"mor-link\" data-track-module=\"mor-link_article\">MORE: We discover how children pay money for knives in London \u2013 and it\u2019s not from the dark web<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"metro-more-link\"><svg><title>Arrow<\/title>\n<use xlink:href=\"#common-right-arrow\" href=\"#common-right-arrow\"><\/use><\/svg><span class=\"mor-link\" data-track-module=\"mor-link_article\">MORE: Brother and sister die after being trapped in freezer playing \u2018hide-and-seek\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"metro-more-link\"><svg><title>Arrow<\/title>\n<use xlink:href=\"#common-right-arrow\" href=\"#common-right-arrow\"><\/use><\/svg><span class=\"mor-link\" data-track-module=\"mor-link_article\">MORE: Schoolboy shot dead in Woolwich ambush told \u2018broken\u2019 mum he was filming rap video<\/span><\/p>\n<section id=\"share-buttons-bottom\" class=\"share-buttons share-buttons-bottom\"><a class=\"metro-button share-bar-comments\" data-vars-position=\"bottom\" href=\"#metro-comments-container\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t<span><svg><title>Comment now<\/title>\n<use xlink:href=\"#social-comment\" href=\"#social-comment\"><\/use><\/svg><\/span><br \/>\n\t\t\t<span class=\"share-bar-comments__label\">Comments<\/span><br \/>\n\t\t<\/a><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t<span><svg><title>Add Metro as a Preferred Source on Google<\/title>\n<use xlink:href=\"#social-preferred-source\" href=\"#social-preferred-source\"><\/use><\/svg><\/span><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"share-bar-preferred-source__label\">Add as preferred source<\/span><br \/>\n\t\t\t<\/section>\n<div class=\"newsletter-end-card accent--tech accent--world\">\n<div class=\"newsletter-end-card__inner\">\n<h4>Breaking News<\/h4>\n<p>Never miss the most important stories with breaking news alerts in your inbox.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to an internet browser that supports HTML5 video A person hailed as a hero is facing a trial for the murder of 5 unarmed civilians throughout the war in Afghanistan. Ben Roberts-Smith, 47, a former Australian Defence Force member, was arrested at Sydney Airport and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":314842,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20691],"tags":[18274,22304,5719,17730,3637,50348,395,10634,571,813],"class_list":["post-314841","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world","tag-afghanistan","tag-australias","tag-charged","tag-crimes","tag-living","tag-mostdecorated","tag-news","tag-soldier","tag-war","tag-world"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/314841","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=314841"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/314841\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":314844,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/314841\/revisions\/314844"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/314842"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=314841"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=314841"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=314841"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}