
Judge rules Australia's most decorated war veteran unlawfully killed POWs, committed war crimes in Afghanistan
Fox News
Ben Roberts-Smith, Australia's most decorated war veteran, committed war crimes such as unlawfully killing prisoners, a judge ruled on June 1, 2023.
Besanko found Roberts-Smith, who was also awarded the Medal of Gallantry for his Afghanistan War service, "broke the moral and legal rules of military engagement" and disgraced Australia through his conduct.
The ruling is regarded as a significant win for press freedom against Australia's extraordinarily restrictive defamation laws following a hard-fought trial over 110 court hearing days that is estimated to have cost more than $16 million in legal fees.
Proven allegations included that Roberts-Smith, the son of a judge, used a machine gun to shoot a prisoner with a prosthetic leg in the back at a Taliban compound codenamed Whiskey 108 in Uruzgan province in 2009. He kept the man's prosthetic as a novelty beer drinking vessel.