Australian soldier granted bail in war crimes case
by Ben Hooper · UPIApril 17 (UPI) -- Australia's most decorated living soldier, Ben Roberts-Smith, was granted bail Friday after being charged with war crimes stemming from his time in Afghanistan.
Roberts-Smith, 47, a former corporal in Australia's Special Air Service, is facing five charges of the war crime of murder. Prosecutors allege he killed or ordered subordinates to kill several unarmed detainees in Afghanistan between 2009 and 2012.
Roberts-Smith, a Victoria Cross recipient, denies the allegations. He appeared in court via video link on Friday.
The former soldier's lawyers argued that keeping him imprisoned while awaiting trial would harm his ability to mount a proper defense.
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Judge Greg Grogan imposed bail conditions including requiring Roberts-Smith, who is currently incarcerated at Sydney's Silverwater Prison, to report to police three times a week, submit to inspections of his electronic devices and give up his passport.
The defendant's father, Len Roberts-Smith, offered to pay the surety on Roberts-Smith's bail, which was set at $250,000 (U.S. $180,385).
The allegations against Roberts-Smith were originally detailed in Australian media in 2018. The former soldier filed a defamation suit, but the federal court ruled in 2023 that he was responsible for the deaths of unarmed Afghans.
The court in the defamation case determined Roberts-Smith had ordered troops to shoot and kill two unarmed Afghans to "blood" rookie soldiers. The judge's ruling said he was also responsible for the killing of a handcuffed farmer who was pushed over a cliff and subsequently shot, as well as a captured Taliban fighter whose prosthetic leg was allegedly kept as a trophy and by troops who drank out of it.
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