Former Australian soldier granted bail on war crime charges

Xinhua
17 Apr 2026, 10:15 GMT+10

SYDNEY, April 17 (Xinhua) -- Former Australian special forces soldier Ben Roberts-Smith was on Friday granted bail by a Sydney court after being charged with war crimes over alleged murders in Afghanistan.

Roberts-Smith, one of the most decorated soldiers in Australian history, was arrested at Sydney Airport on April 7 and charged with five counts of the war crime of murder relating to the alleged killings of unarmed detainees in Afghanistan between 2009 and 2012.

Following a hearing on Friday morning, a Sydney court granted the 47-year-old bail with strict conditions regarding travel and contacting witnesses.

In making the case for bail to be granted, lawyers for Roberts-Smith told the court that the case would involve unprecedented legal territory and was likely to take several years to resolve.

Roberts-Smith became the second person in Australian history to be charged with war crimes after Oliver Schulz, a fellow former member of the Special Air Service, was in 2023 charged over the alleged 2012 shooting of an Afghan man.

Schulz has pleaded not guilty and is set to face trial in 2027.

Prosecutors opposed bail for Roberts-Smith, who was in 2011 awarded the Victoria Cross for an act of valor while touring Afghanistan in 2010, due to the serious nature of the charges against him.

The Australian Federal Police said at the time of his arrest that it will be alleged in court that Roberts-Smith intentionally caused the death of a person in two incidents and aided, abetted, counselled or procured someone else to intentionally cause the death of a person in the other three incidents.

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