\n
![](\"https:\/\/i.dawn.com\/large\/2026\/04\/0711340724cddfd.webp\")
<\/p>\n
\n<\/p>\n
Australia\u2019s most decorated living soldier was arrested on Tuesday and \u200bwill be charged with five counts of war crime murders relating to the killing of unarmed civilians while on \u200cdeployment in Afghanistan.<\/p>\n
The man, whom police identified as a 47-year-old former Australian Defence Force (ADF) member and media named as Ben Roberts-Smith, was arrested at Sydney Airport on Tuesday morning.<\/p>\n
He will be charged with five counts of war crimes in connection<\/a> to the murder of five people in Afghanistan between 2009 and 2012, \u200bAustralian Federal Police (AFP) said. The maximum penalty for each charge is life imprisonment.<\/p>\n Roberts-Smith was hailed as a national hero after \u200bbeing awarded<\/a> several top military honours, including the Victoria Cross, for his actions during six tours of \u2060Afghanistan from 2006 to 2012.<\/p>\n \u201cIt will be alleged the victims were not taking part in hostilities at the time of their alleged \u200bmurder in Afghanistan,\u201d AFP Commissioner Krissy Barrett told a press conference.<\/p>\n \u201cIt will be alleged the victims were detained, unarmed and were under \u200bthe control of ADF members when they were killed.\u201d<\/p>\n Police would also allege the victims were shot by the accused or shot by subordinates acting on his orders and in his presence, she said.<\/p>\n Roberts-Smith has consistently denied allegations of wrongdoing during his service, some of which were first reported by Nine Entertainment<\/em> newspapers \u200bin a series of articles starting in 2018.<\/p>\n Among the accusations reported were that Roberts-Smith had shot dead an unarmed Afghan teenager and \u200bkicked a handcuffed man off a cliff before ordering him to be shot dead.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n