Lead

Australian soldiers have told prosecutors they executed unarmed civilians at the orders of Ben Roberts-Smith or in complicity with him, according to a statement of facts tendered to the New South Wales local court, as reported by both ABC Australia and The Guardian.

Roberts-Smith, a Victoria Cross recipient and once one of Australia's most honoured soldiers, faces five charges of the war crime of murder, allegedly committed while he served in the Australian SAS in Afghanistan. The alleged victims were unarmed Afghan nationals in 2009 and 2012, according to the charges.

Coverage Comparison

The reporting from ABC Australia and The Guardian is closely aligned, with both outlets presenting the same core facts from the court documents. ABC Australia provides the context of Roberts-Smith's arrest and bail, while The Guardian emphasizes the nature of the charges and the indemnified witnesses' admissions. Both outlets attribute the allegations to a statement of facts tendered to the NSW Local Court, which was released after Roberts-Smith was granted bail.

Key Claims

The court documents, as described by both sources, include several key allegations:

  • Three indemnified defence force witnesses have provided written accounts to prosecutors about their personal involvement in executing Afghan detainees at the direction of or in complicity with Ben Roberts-Smith. According to the documents, each witness admitted their involvement in executing one or more detainees, with Roberts-Smith as their military superior.
  • The alleged victims were unarmed and present in a location where Roberts-Smith could reasonably have suspected insurgents to be located, according to the statement of facts. Each offence was committed in a situation where there was no active engagement with enemy forces and the Australian Defence Force was in control of the environment.
  • Evidence was planted or falsely associated with each deceased to enhance reporting that each of the killings were within the lawful rules of engagement, the documents allege. This includes an allegation that Roberts-Smith threw a grenade towards two deceased men in the village of Syahchow in October 2012, which detonated, in an action described as being done to support a false claim that the men were killed during a lawful engagement.
  • Each deceased was handcuffed, detained for a period, and questioned prior to their execution, according to the documents. A pathologist, Professor Noel Woodford, cannot exclude a linear void in bloodstaining on the arm of one victim as being caused by the presence of plastic handcuffs between the time of injury and photographs being taken, as reported by a single source.

Perspectives

Prosecution perspective: The Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions has provided undertakings to three soldier witnesses, who have admitted their involvement in the alleged executions. The documents describe "common themes" attached to each murder, suggesting a pattern of conduct.

Defence perspective: Roberts-Smith has not entered a plea to the charges but has consistently denied any wrongdoing during his military service. His lawyer may argue that the allegations were previously tested in civil proceedings and that the criminal test, with its higher standard of proof, will require rigorous scrutiny of the evidence.

Context on previous proceedings: Roberts-Smith previously brought a defamation case against Nine newspapers, which resulted in a Federal Court ruling that allegations of four war crime murders were substantially true. As noted by The Guardian, the civil test is different from the criminal test now before the courts, where prosecutors must prove allegations beyond a reasonable doubt.

Bail conditions: Roberts-Smith was granted bail under strict conditions, including forfeiting his passport, reporting to police three times a week, and a surety of $250,000, according to reports from both sources. The trial is not expected to go before a jury for a number of years.