Australia's most decorated living veteran, Ben Roberts-Smith, has been released on bail following his arrest on war crimes charges. The former Special Air Service Regiment corporal faces five counts of murder related to the deaths of five Afghans in Uruzgan province in 2009 and 2012.
A judge granted bail, citing exceptional circumstances, despite prosecution arguments that Roberts-Smith posed a flight risk or could interfere with witnesses. Prosecutors had described the charges as "among the most serious known to the criminal law."
Roberts-Smith, who was awarded the Victoria Cross, is the second Australian veteran of the Afghanistan campaign to be charged with a war crime. The charges stem from a 2020 military report that found evidence of unlawful killings by elite troops. A civil court previously found similar allegations credible in a defamation case where Roberts-Smith sued over reports of war crimes.
Defense lawyers argued that prosecuting such a decorated soldier in domestic courts for alleged overseas war crimes is unprecedented. Roberts-Smith faces a potential life sentence on each conviction and has yet to enter pleas.