By Christine Chen
SYDNEY, April 7 (Reuters) - Australia's most decorated soldier was arrested on Tuesday and charged with five counts of war crime murders relating to the killing of unarmed civilians while on deployment in Afghanistan.
Police said a 47-year-old former Australian Defence Force (ADF) member had been arrested at Sydney Airport. Court records named the man as Ben Roberts-Smith.
He was charged with five counts of war crimes in connection with the murder of five people in Afghanistan between
2009 and 2012, Australian Federal Police (AFP) said. The maximum penalty for each charge is life imprisonment.
"It will be alleged the victims were not taking part in hostilities at the time of their alleged murder in Afghanistan," AFP Commissioner Krissy Barrett told a press conference.
"It will be alleged the victims were detained, unarmed and were under the control of ADF members when they were killed."
Police would also allege the victims were shot by the accused or shot by subordinates acting on his orders and in his presence, she said.
Roberts-Smith was hailed as a national hero after being awarded several top military honours, including the Victoria Cross, for his actions during six tours in Afghanistan from 2006 to 2012.
He has consistently denied allegations of wrongdoing during his service, some of which were first reported by Nine Entertainment newspapers in a series of articles starting in 2018.
Among the accusations reported were that Roberts-Smith had shot dead an unarmed Afghan teenager and kicked a handcuffed man off a cliff before ordering him to be shot dead.
Roberts-Smith, a former member of Australia's Special Air Service Regiment (SAS), unsuccessfully challenged the reports in what became Australia's most expensive defamation trial, with a Federal Court judge ruling in 2023 the newspapers proved four of the six murder accusations they levelled. A final appeal bid was dismissed by the High Court in September 2025.
A 2020 report found credible evidence that members of the SAS killed dozens of unarmed prisoners in the lengthy Afghan war.
An investigation into the SAS soldier by the AFP and the Office of the Special Investigator (OSI), set up to examine allegations of war crimes by Australian defence forces in Afghanistan, was opened in 2021.
Ross Barnett, director of investigations at the OSI, said the process was complex and time-consuming because authorities were unable to go to Afghanistan and access the crime scenes.
"We don't have access to the crime scenes, we don't have photographs, site plans, measurements, the recovery of projectiles, blood spatter analysis, all of those things we would normally get at a crime scene," he said at the press conference.
The joint OSI-AFP commenced 53 investigations involving allegations of war crimes by ADF members in Afghanistan, with 10 ongoing. Another former special forces soldier is due to face trial for war crime murder next February, the OSI said.
"If the evidence leads to other people needing to be charged, you can be assured that will happen," Barnett added.
Amnesty International said Roberts-Smith's arrest was a "critical step toward global justice and accountability efforts".
"Australian authorities must now ensure all credible allegations are fully investigated and, where appropriate, prosecuted," said Zaki Haidari, Amnesty International Australia strategic campaigner.
Police footage showed officers escorting Roberts-Smith off a flight upon arrival at Sydney Airport and into a police car waiting on the tarmac.
Local media reported that he had travelled to Sydney from Brisbane with his girlfriend and two teenage daughters.
The New South Wales local court said Roberts-Smith would appear before court for a bail hearing on Wednesday.
Roberts-Smith's lawyer for his defamation trial did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
(Reporting by Christine Chen in Sydney; Editing by Lincoln Feast and Raju Gopalakrishnan)
