Ben Roberts-Smith, Australia’s most-decorated living soldier, is launching an appeal against a civil court defamation ruling that found him responsible for war crimes in Afghanistan.
In a landmark judgement last month, a judge concluded that articles in Australian press accusing the Victoria Cross recipient of murdering four people in Afghanistan were “substantially true”.
Roberts-Smith has not faced criminal charges. Speaking to the media last month, he refused to apologise for actions. “We haven’t done anything wrong, so we won’t be making any apologies,” he said.
He maintains his innocence and is now seeking to overturn the defamation ruling through an appeal. The specific grounds for his appeal have not been disclosed.
Roberts-Smith alleges that the damaging reports published by the newspapers ruined his life, as they accused him of transgressing both moral and legal boundaries in warfare. The highly publicised defamation case, which some have dubbed “the trial of the century,” lasted an extensive 110 days and is rumored to have incurred costs of up to A$25 million ($16.3 million)
On 1 June, a judge in the Federal Court dismissed Roberts-Smith’s case against The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald, and The Canberra Times, ruling that the articles’ central claims—that Roberts-Smith had murdered unarmed prisoners and civilians in Afghanistan.
Justice Anthony Besanko further determined that Roberts-Smith had lied in an attempt to conceal his misconduct and had even made threats to potential witnesses.
However, the court did not find sufficient evidence to substantiate additional allegations of assault, as well as two other murders, based on the standard of proof required in civil cases.
