Decorated Australian veteran loses his defamation appeal over killings in Afghanistan

Australia's most decorated living war veteran Ben Roberts-Smith on Friday lost his appeal of a civil court ruling that blamed him for unlawfully killing four Afghans while he served in Afghanistan.

Three federal court judges unanimously rejected his appeal of a judge's ruling in 2023 that Roberts-Smith was not defamed by newspaper articles published in 2018 that accused him of a range of war crimes.

Justice Anthony Besanko had ruled that the accusations were substantially true to a civil standard and Roberts-Smith was responsible for four of the six unlawful deaths he had been accused of.

Roberts-Smith has never faced criminal charges, which must be proven to the higher standard of beyond reasonable doubt.

He was not in the Sydney court Friday to hear the ruling and his lawyers refused to comment. They have a final option of appealing to the High Court.

Roberts-Smith, 46, is a former Special Air Service Regiment corporal who was awarded the Victoria Cross and Medal for Gallantry for his service in Afghanistan. Around 39,000 Australians soldiers served in Afghanistan and 41 were killed.

His SAS colleagues are among those calling for him to become the first of Australia's Victoria Cross winners to be stripped of the highest award for gallantry in battle.

Roberts-Smith has been financially supported by Australian billionaire Kerry Stokes whose media business Seven West Media is a rival of Nine Entertainment that published the articles that Roberts-Smith argued defamed him.