Ben Roberts-Smith, the most decorated living Australian soldier, lost a historic defamation action against three newspapers after they accused him of committing war crimes in Afghanistan.
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Due to articles that claimed he killed defenseless inmates, the sources were sued.
The civil trial marked the first time a court had considered claims that Australian personnel had committed war crimes.
A judge ruled that four of the six murder charges—all of which the soldier denied—were essentially accurate.
Justice Anthony Besanko concluded that the publication had failed to substantiate two additional murder charges, as well as claims that Mr. Roberts-Smith had abused a lady with whom he was having an affair and a threat against a less experienced coworker.
However, more accusations that he had wrongfully abused prisoners and mistreated peers were proven to be accurate.
The claims against Mr. Roberts-Smith, who left the defense force in 2013, have not been brought against him in a criminal court, where the bar of proof is higher. The 44-year-old wasn't there for the verdict on Thursday.
A Taliban spokesman claimed the case was evidence of "uncountable crimes" by foreign forces in Afghanistan after the ruling, but he also stated he did not trust any court in the world to pursue them.
Between 2001 and 2021, Australian forces were stationed in Afghanistan. Richard Marles, the Australian defense minister, declined to comment on the situation, stating that it was a civil matter.
The most well-known living war veteran in Australia, Mr. Roberts-Smith, was a member of the Special Air Service Regiment (SAS) of that nation.
He won the nation's highest military honor, the Victoria Cross, in 2011 for defeating Taliban machine-gunners who were attacking his platoon on his own.
But in 2018, The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, and The Canberra Times began publishing exposes revealing his misbehavior between 2009 and 2012, shattering his public image.
Five of the killings mentioned in the newspapers, according to the soldier, happened legitimately while engaged in combat, while the sixth did not occur at all.
His libel case, nicknamed "the trial of the century" by some, lasted 110 days and is said to have cost up to A$25 million ($16.3 million, £13.2 million).
Over 40 witnesses provided remarkable testimony regarding every aspect of Mr. Roberts-Smith's life, including Afghan civilians, a government minister, and a number of current and former SAS soldiers.
The case, however, also revealed some of the elite special forces of Australia's clandestine operations.
Due to a "code of silence" inside the regiment, soldiers testified at the trial that possible wrongdoing was rarely reported, while other soldiers defended their actions as necessary.
Many witnesses who testified did so voluntarily after receiving subpoenas, and three others declined to discuss some claims out of concern for self-incrimination.
The prosecution's case against Mr. Roberts-Smith was mostly supported by eyewitness statements and memories of conversations among troops. The media outlets argued that their witnesses had no motivation to lie, forcing Justice Besanko to compare the veracity of the testimonies.
The news organizations hailed the verdict as "vindication" for their reporting while speaking outside the Federal Court in Sydney.
The pieces were co-authored by investigative journalists Nick McKenzie, Chris Masters, and David Wroe. "It's a day of justice for the brave men of the SAS who stood up and told the truth about who Ben Roberts-Smith is: a war criminal, a bully, and a liar," said McKenzie.
"Today is a day of some modest justice for Ben Roberts-Smith's victims in Afghanistan,"
Investigative journalism was hailed for its part in "uncovering the truth and raising public awareness" about what had happened in the nation by the Afghanistan Human Rights and Democracy Organisation.
Mr. Roberts-Smith is employed by rival publication Seven West Media by media mogul Kerry Stokes, who claimed that the verdict "did not accord with the man I know."
Mr. Stokes, who gave the soldier a loan of money to pay for his legal defense, said, "I know this will be particularly hard for Ben, who has always maintained his innocence." According to local media, Mr. Roberts-Smith volunteered to turn in his Victoria Cross as collateral.
The case comes three years after a historic report discovered solid proof that Australian personnel had murdered 39 civilians and inmates in Afghanistan between 2007 and 2013 without authorization.
In recent years, US and UK soldiers have also been accused of committing war crimes.
Numerous Australian soldiers, according to local media, are being looked into for their potential involvement in war crimes. But only one person, Oliver Schulz, has been charged thus far.
Prior to the verdict, war historian Peter Stanley told the BBC that Mr. Roberts-Smith's case would serve as "a litmus test" for claims of Australian malfeasance in Afghanistan.
The Ben Roberts-Smith incident is merely a foreshadowing of the extensive succession of war crimes investigations, allegations, charges, and potential convictions that we'll witness over the coming years.
