Ben Roberts-Smith, Australia’s most decorated living soldier, has been arrested and will face multiple war crimes charges over alleged killings of unarmed civilians during his deployment in Afghanistan.
The 47-year-old former Australian Defence Force member was taken into custody at Sydney Airport on Tuesday morning, the Australian Federal Police confirmed. He is set to be charged with five counts of murder in connection with the deaths of five individuals in Afghanistan between 2009 and 2012. Each charge carries a maximum penalty of life imprisonment.
Roberts-Smith, who was previously celebrated as a national hero and awarded the Victoria Cross for his actions during six tours of Afghanistan from 2006 to 2012, has consistently denied wrongdoing.
AFP Commissioner Krissy Barrett said, “It will be alleged the victims were not taking part in hostilities at the time of their alleged murder in Afghanistan. It will be alleged the victims were detained, unarmed and were under the control of ADF members when they were killed.” She added that police allege the victims were shot either by Roberts-Smith or by subordinates acting on his orders and in his presence.
The allegations, first reported in 2018, include claims that Roberts-Smith shot an unarmed Afghan teenager and kicked a handcuffed man off a cliff before ordering he be shot. He unsuccessfully challenged the reports in Australia’s most expensive defamation trial. In 2023, a Federal Court judge ruled that four of six murder allegations had been proven, and the High Court dismissed his final appeal in September 2025.
Investigations into the case began in 2021 by the AFP and the Office of the Special Investigator, set up to probe alleged Australian war crimes in Afghanistan. Ross Barnett, director of investigations at the office, noted the difficulty of the process: “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.”
Authorities have opened 53 investigations into alleged war crimes by Australian Defence Force members in Afghanistan, with 10 still ongoing. Another former special forces soldier is expected to face trial next February. Barnett added, “If the evidence leads to other people needing to be charged, you can be assured that will happen.”
Roberts-Smith is scheduled to appear before a local court in New South Wales later on Tuesday.
