SOLDIERS – AUSTRALIA

Roberts-Smith charged over Afghan deaths

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Original article by Paul Karp, Josh Hohne
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 3 : 8-Apr-26

Former SAS soldier Ben Roberts-Smith has spent his first night in jail after being arrested on Tuesday and officially charged with committing war crimes in Afghanistan. The Victoria Cross recipient will appear in a NSW court for a bail hearing on Wednesday, after being charged with five counts of murder; it follows a five-year investigation by the Office of the Special Investigator and the Australian Federal Police into alleged war crimes by members of the Australian Defence Force in Afghanistan. It will be alleged that Roberts-Smith was involved in the murder of five Afghan civilians and prisoners between 2009 and 2012. He lost a defamation case in 2023 over media reports which alleged that he had been involved in war crimes in Afghanistan.

CORPORATES
SPECIAL AIR SERVICE REGIMENT, AUSTRALIA. OFFICE OF THE SPECIAL INVESTIGATOR, AUSTRALIAN FEDERAL POLICE, AUSTRALIAN DEFENCE FORCE

Nine was intent on destroying war hero

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Original article by Kieran Gair
The Australian – Page: 5 : 29-Jun-21

Victoria Cross recipient Ben Roberts-Smith is suing Nine Entertainment over newspaper articles that appeared in 2018 that allege he committed or was complicit in murders on deployments to Afghanistan, and that he assaulted a woman in 2018. Former Liberal defence minister and Australian War Memorial director Brendan Nelson told the Federal Court on 28 June that the general public idolised Roberts-Smith, while Nelson claimed that the journalists who wrote the articles in question were "intent on bringing him down". The court also heard the case may have to be paused because of the impact of Sydney’s two-week lockdown on the availability of interstate witnesses.

CORPORATES
NINE ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX NEC, AUSTRALIAN WAR MEMORIAL