Australia's Veteran Hero Charged with War Crimes

0:00It's April 7th. Welcome to Vancouver News today, powered by AI. Australia's most decorated living veteran, 47-year-old Ben Robert Smith, just got hit with five war crime murder charges for allegedly, killing unarmed Afghans back in 2009 and 2012. This former Special Air Service Corporal earned the Victoria Cross and Medal of Galantry, but police say he either shot detainees himself or ordered. It's important to do it while they were under Australian Defence Force control. He got arrested Tuesday at Sydney Airport right after flying in from Brisbane, and he's spending the night in custody before his first court date, Wednesday, where he might push for bail. This marks only the second time in Australian Afghanistan vet faces these charges. The first being former SAS soldier, Oliver Schultz, who pleaded not. Guilty to murdering an Afghan civilian in a wheat field that same year. These allegations first blew up in media reports around 2018, leading to a big defamation

1:01suit. Robert Smith lost in Civil Court last year. A federal judge ruled it more likely than not that he unlawfully killed four non-combatants and Australia's high court shut down his appeal in. September. Investigators from the office of the Special Investigator dug into 53 war crime claims overall, wrapping up 39 without charges. This stems from a 2020 military report exposing unlawful killings by elite SAS and commando units, though police stress is tied to. Just a tiny fraction of the force at a 40,000 who served in Afghanistan from 2001 to 2021, only 41, lost their lives. War crime murder could mean life in prison, and now the bar's higher and criminal court beyond reasonable doubt. As my testify again, just like in the civil case, as this elite unit's secrets start unraveling under scrutiny.