Ben Roberts-Smith loses defamation case with judge saying newspapers established truth of murders

Justice Anthony Besanko found newspapers established substantial or contextual truth of allegations of war crimes in Afghanistan

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Ben Roberts-Smith VC, Australia’s most decorated living soldier, has lost a defamation case in which he was accused of multiple murders of unarmed civilians in Afghanistan, a federal court judge has found.

Justice Anthony Besanko found that, on the balance of probabilities, Roberts-Smith kicked a handcuffed prisoner off a cliff in Darwan in 2012, before ordering a subordinate Australian soldier to shoot the injured man dead.