One of Australia's most decorated soldiers charged with committing 5 war crime murders in Afghanistan
Posted by Naurgul@reddit | anime_titties | View on Reddit | 17 comments
Australia's most decorated living veteran, Ben Roberts-Smith, faces war crime charges on allegations that he killed five unarmed Afghans while serving in Afghanistan from 2009 and 2012, police and media reported on Tuesday.
Police have not confirmed the name of the 47-year-old former soldier who was arrested Tuesday. But he has been widely reported in the media to be Roberts-Smith, a former Special Air Service Regiment corporal who was awarded both the Victoria Cross and Medal of Gallantry for his service in Afghanistan.
Police charged him Tuesday with five counts of war crime murder. He will remain in custody overnight and make his first court appearance on Wednesday, a police statement said.
Former SAS soldier Oliver Schulz, 44, has pleaded not guilty to a charge of war crime murder. He is accused of shooting Afghan man Dad Mohammad three times in the head in an Uruzgan province wheat field in May 2012.
War crime murder carries a potential sentence of life in prison. It's a federal crime in Australia, defined as the intentional killing in the context of armed conflict of a person who is not taking an active part in hostilities, such as civilians, prisoners of war or wounded soldiers.
A civil court has already found similar allegations against Roberts-Smith credible in a defamation suit he brought after several newspapers published articles in 2018 accusing him of a range of war crimes. In 2023, a federal judge rejected Roberts-Smith's claims and ruled that he likely killed four noncombatants unlawfully in 2009 and 2012.
The charges follow a military report released in 2020 that found evidence that elite Australian SAS and commando regiment troops unlawfully killed 39 Afghan prisoners, farmers and other noncombatants.
LightLeftLeaning@reddit
Now, USA, what have you got to say? You sanctioned the ICC for saying that some of your soldiers committed warcrimes in Afghanistan. Do you still deny it?
Future-Excuse6167@reddit
Honestly? Make sure any judges and prosecutors have their savings in a Chinese bank and aren't using Google or Microsoft.
LightLeftLeaning@reddit
I believe that is what they are doing. I read a news article about it recently
Future-Excuse6167@reddit
Yes. The history is that that they US enacted terrorism laws unilaterally against a UN human rights investigator, and also the judges that convicted Bolsonaro in Brazil. The world is rapidly extricating itself from the hegemon's tentacles, including developed a European-owned alternatives to Microsoft and Visa and Mastercard. You can not trust the United States not to abuse its power.
BendicantMias@reddit
The ICC was sanctioned more cos it dared to indict Israel.
wet_suit_one@reddit
First of all, good lord, that chin! Like what the heck is that? AI manipulation?
Second of all, this is good. No one should be above the law or its reach. Despite the code of certain world leaders, it's better for all to have laws apply and be applied to all bad actors, no matter who and no matter where.
IlluminatedPickle@reddit
As someone who has proudly kicked him out of a supermarket, yeah he does look that fuckin goofy.
wet_suit_one@reddit
Good lord!
Yetanotherdeafguy@reddit
Sadly the Australian right has latched on as a culture war issue.
Apparently if you weren't there, condemning a man for war crimes means you hate all Australian servicemen.
BThasTBinFiji@reddit
Totally neglecting that a significant number if his colleagues are very bravely testifying against him in the proceedings.
And neglecting that the man who brought the war crimes to light is in prison despite being a whistleblower
IlluminatedPickle@reddit
No.
David McBride is in prison because his release of the classified documents wasn't done to reveal war crimes. David McBride was annoyed that the army was investigating war crimes. His angle was "Oh my god they're investigating these heroes!".
And I know McBride has changed his story about a dozen times since. But if you want absolute proof of this, go and look at the transcript from the trial. He does not claim that he was releasing the documents to reveal war crimes. If he had done so (and had proof of it), he would have been able to claim a whistleblower defense and wouldn't have ended up in jail.
The documents being released was in the public interest, McBrides intent for doing so wasn't.
MajorlyCynical@reddit
I just love the fact that in a section of the military known for its code of silence that 21 of his colleagues spoke out against him. It's a real testament to how much of a piece of shit he is. And he got here by an own goal trying to say the media was defaming him and he lost that case because you know the truth is a hard thing to fight.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-06-12/sas-soldiers-to-testify-against-ben-roberts-smith-trial/100209274
BendicantMias@reddit
Idk about that. Trump does a pretty bang up job of it. We're literally said to be living in a post-truth world nowadays.
wet_suit_one@reddit
Given the times, one should expect nothing less of the right anywhere in the world. This is what they've become.
PurpleMclaren@reddit
Is this the guy that was caught on film drinking beer from a fallen Afghanis protestic or is this a different guy?
More countries should try war criminals
bubajofe@reddit
God forbid a man gets thirsty after some war crimes
/s obviously.
hanrahs@reddit
Same guy