Australia arrests decorated veteran on war crimes charges

Ben Roberts-Smith is a Victoria Cross recipient and had been linked to the murder of unarmed civilians while deployed in Afghanistan.

Australian police have arrested the country's most decorated living soldier, Ben Roberts-Smith, on allegations of war crimes.

The Australian Federal Police said a man, identified by local news outlets as Roberts-Smith, was charged over the killing of several unarmed civilians while on deployment in Afghanistan between 2009 and 2012.

The former soldier was previously awarded Australia's highest military honor, the Victoria Cross, for "conspicuous gallantry" during a 2010 battle against Taliban fighters in Kandahar, Afghanistan.

Five counts of the war crimes

Roberts-Smith was first linked to the murders of unarmed Afghan prisoners by Australian troops in a series of newspaper reports in 2018.

He lost a defamation case against the newspapers after a Federal Court judge in 2023 found some of the alleged murders proven. His final appeal was dismissed by the High Court in September 2025.

The reporting also triggered a criminal investigation. The 47-year-old was arrested at Sydney Airport on Tuesday morning and charged with five counts of war crimes. He was scheduled to make his first court appearance on Wednesday.

"It will be alleged the victims were not taking part in hostilities at the time of their alleged murder in Afghanistan," Federal Police Commissioner Krissy Barrett told a press conference.

"It will be alleged the victims were detained, unarmed and were under the control of [Australian Defense Force] members when they were killed."

The allegations include that Roberts-Smith shot dead an unarmed Afghan teenager and kicked a handcuffed detainee off a cliff before having him shot.

He is also accused of aiding or directing others to intentionally kill people on three separate occasions.

Allegations of war crimes by Australian defense forces in Afghanistan examined

Australia deployed 39,000 troops to Afghanistan over two decades as part of US- and NATO-led operations against the Taliban and other militant groups.

A joint investigation by the Australian Federal Police and the Office of the Special Investigator into alleged war crimes by some of the soldiers during their deployement in Afghanistan was opened in 2021.

Roberts-Smith's case is one of 53 investigations, with 10 ongoing.

"If the evidence leads to other people needing to be charged, you can be assured that will happen," Ross Barnett, director of the Office of the Special Investigator, said.

Edited by: Elizabeth Schumacher