https://edition.cnn.com/2026/04/06/aust ... s-intl-hnk
Australia’s most decorated soldier arrested over alleged war crimes
Story by Reuters
27 min ago
Reuters — Australia’s most decorated living soldier has been arrested over five counts of the war crime of murder while on deployment in Afghanistan, local media reported on Tuesday.
The man, whom police identified as a 47-year-old former Australian Defence Force member and media named as Ben Roberts-Smith, was arrested at Sydney Airport on Tuesday morning.
He will be charged with five counts of war crimes in connection to 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.
Roberts-Smith was hailed as a national hero after being awarded several top military honors, including the Victoria Cross, for his actions during six tours of 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.
