The charging of Ben Roberts-Smith marks a significant moment in Australia’s war crimes investigations, highlighting both legal obligations and the challenges of accountability.

After landing in Sydney airport following a flight from Brisbane, Australia’s  most decorated living soldier, Ben Roberts-Smith,  was arrested by Australian Federal Police. He’s  been charged with five counts of the war crime of murder, following a years-long joint investigation between police and the Office of the Special Investigator.

Roberts-Smith is only the second Australian to be charged with such offences, and the most high-profile.

But the path to this point has been long and winding. Here’s how we got here, and what happens next.

The media reporting and defamation case

This is not the first time Roberts-Smith will face a court for alleged war crimes.

In 2018,  he sued three journalists and Fairfax Media for defamation. This followed  media reports by Australian journalists Nick McKenzie, Chris Masters and David Wroe, alleging he had murdered Afghani personnel during operations in Afghanistan.

Roberts-Smith has always denied any wrongdoing.

To defend themselves, the journalists relied on proving in court that their reporting was accurate: that Roberts-Smith had, in fact, committed war crimes.

In 2023,  the court held there was sufficient evidence that Roberts-Smith had himself murdered two Afghani personnel and ordered or pressured a subordinate soldier to murder another.

Because that trial was a civil proceeding, lawyers representing the journalists did not need to prove the allegations beyond a reasonable doubt. They only........

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