"In the fading afternoon light of April 12, 2017, Australia’s most decorated soldier was unmistakeable as he surged through the front door of Canberra’s Hyatt Hotel, not only because of his conspicuous height and tailored business suit. The awarding of the Victoria Cross six years earlier had turned Ben Roberts-Smith into a towering public figure.

Work on my book on the Australian special forces’ 13-year tour of Afghanistan was in its final stages. The interview I had at last arranged with Roberts-Smith would plug a few gaps. It was later claimed that I was on a mission to “tear down a hero”, but that was a long way from true. Any challenge to Roberts-Smith’s reputation would have required a lot of evidence, which had not materialised up to this time. Any negative commentary from his detractors was countered by praise from his supporters. I shook hands with him and, to avoid turned heads, we settled in the empty rose garden." #Australia #BenRobertsSmith #BRS #WarCrimes #Afghanistan #Taliban

A man with something to hide: The day I put tough questions to Ben Roberts-Smith. The more we spoke, the more his guard appeared to slip, writes Chris Masters. https://www.smh.com.au/

Unpaywalled link: https://12ft.io/proxy?&q=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.smh.com.au%2Fnational%2Fa-man-with-something-to-hide-the-day-i-put-tough-questions-to-ben-roberts-smith-20230704-p5dlok.html

‘I’d never seen a courtroom so still’: The witness who rocked the Ben Roberts-Smith war crimes defamation trial.

For six anxious months in the “defamation case of the century” launched by SAS veteran Ben Roberts-Smith, it was unknown whether a key witness would testify against him. In his forthcoming book Crossing the Line, an investigative journalist at the heart of the trial shares the moment that changed its course. #BenRobertsSmith #Australia #BRS #WarCrimes #defamation #legal #courts #Afghanistan #journalism #investigations #SAS #SpecialForces #military

Ben Roberts-Smith case: What barrister Dean Levitan learnt mid-trial that rattled him https://www.smh.com.au/national/i-d-never-seen-a-courtroom-so-still-the-witness-who-rocked-the-roberts-smith-trial-20230217-p5clj5.html

Unpaywalled link: https://12ft.io/proxy?&q=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.smh.com.au%2Fnational%2Fi-d-never-seen-a-courtroom-so-still-the-witness-who-rocked-the-roberts-smith-trial-20230217-p5clj5.html

Ben Roberts-Smith is now undefamable, thanks to the contextual truth defence. #Australia #law #legal #defamation #ContextualTruth #BRS #BenRobertsSmith #libel https://www.msn.com/en-au/news/australia/ben-roberts-smith-is-now-undefamable-thanks-to-the-contextual-truth-defence/ar-AA1cyMrL

No apology comes
Alleged war crimes are denied
Justice seeks to appeal

#benrobertssmith #warcrimes #defamation #haiku #poetry

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-australia-65911638

"Victoria Cross recipient Ben Roberts-Smith directed one of his SAS comrades to kill an elderly man who was dragged from a mosque in Afghanistan, according to allegations examined by the Brereton inquiry into alleged war crimes.

ABC Investigations can reveal the disgraced war hero's alleged involvement in the killing, which sparked a diplomatic row for Australia." #BenRobertsSmith #BRS #WarCrimes #Afghanistan #Australia

Ben Roberts-Smith revealed to be soldier alleged in Brereton inquiry to have directed the killing of an elderly imam in Afghanistan - ABC News https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-06-08/roberts-smith-allegedly-directed-soldier-to-kill-inquiry-heard/102447030

“Bruce Lehrmann tells his side of the story in a TV interview – so why did he decline to in court?”

Emboldened by a TKO #BruceLehrmann is looking as self-assured as #BenRobertsSmith. #LookBeforeYouLeap

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/jun/05/bruce-lehrmann-tv-interview-seven-network-spotlight-program-court?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

From today's Sydney Morning Herald:

"Disgraced war hero Ben Roberts-Smith waged an aggressive campaign to cover up his war crimes, invoking a special forces’ code of silence as well as smearing and threatening those he thought had revealed his misconduct.

The Victoria Cross recipient lost a landmark defamation case against The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald and The Canberra Times on Thursday, with a judge finding he had committed war crimes and was a murderer. It can now also be revealed that the Australian Federal Police has submitted a new brief of evidence to Commonwealth prosecutors over allegations Roberts-Smith intimidated witnesses at that trial." #BenRobertsSmith #BRS #Australia #SAS #WarCrimes #legal

‘Stick to the code’: New tapes reveal Ben Roberts-Smith’s campaign to silence soldiers - https://www.smh.com.au/national/stick-to-the-code-new-tapes-reveal-ben-roberts-smith-s-campaign-to-silence-soldiers-20230411-p5czj2.html

John Birmingham nails it again

https://open.substack.com/pub/aliensideboob/p/failure-all-the-way-up?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android

#afganistan #warcrimes #BRS #BenRobertsSmith

"In early November 2017, one of the most influential men in Australia’s military was passed a sensitive document by a billionaire media mogul. It was the start of a campaign." #BRS #BenRobertsSmith #KerryStokes #WarCrimes #defamation

The rich and influential cheer squad who backed a war criminal - 12ft | Ben Roberts-Smith case: Kerry Stokes’ campaign to defend an Australian war criminal
https://12ft.io/proxy?&q=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.smh.com.au%2Fnational%2Fthe-rich-and-influential-cheer-squad-who-backed-a-war-criminal-20230502-p5d4ww.html

Turns out VC stands for Violent Criminal #BenRobertsSmith

https://open.substack.com/pub/aliensideboob/p/failure-all-the-way-up?r=12w7y&utm_medium=ios&utm_campaign=post
@johnbirmingham@bird.makeup on #Governance #Culture #BenRobertsSmith + #auspol

🤔
I wonder if #KerryStokes has asked PwC (a longtime advisor to #KerryStokes’ businesses) how to make #BenRobertsSmith's (and #Nine’s) legal costs tax deductible.
https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/2023/06/02/ben-roberts-smith-judgment/?utm_campaign=Morning%20News%20-%2020230602&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Adestra&lr_hash=cb54282d116316794e73cd9c1d38a231

I think the Fediverse deserves this more than :birdsite:

#BenRobertsSmith

#theShovel #BenRobertsSmith #aquspol

https://theshovel.com.au/2021/07/27/ben-roberts-smith-suddenly-remembers-he-initiated-this-fucking-trial/

#primafacie case #PervertingthecourseofJustice #stokes #BenRobertsSmith #auspol

https://kangaroocourtofaustralia.com/2022/02/26/powerful-prima-facie-case-to-charge-billionaire-kerry-stokes-ryan-stokes-and-ben-roberts-smith-with-attempting-to-pervert-the-course-of-justice/

The following meanings were found by the judge to be substantially true:

- [Ben] Roberts-Smith murdered an unarmed and defenceless Afghan civilian, Ali Jan, in September 2012 by kicking him off a cliff and procuring the soldiers under his command to shoot him.

- He broke the moral and legal rules of military engagement and is therefore a criminal.

- He disgraced his country, Australia, and the Australian army by his conduct as a member of the SAS in Afghanistan.

- He committed another murder on Easter Sunday, 2009, by pressuring a newly deployed and inexperienced SAS soldier to execute an elderly, unarmed Afghan in order to “blood the rookie”.

- He committed a third murder by machine-gunning a man with a prosthetic leg on the Easter Sunday mission.

- He was so callous and inhumane that he took the prosthetic leg back to Australia and encouraged his soldiers to use it as a novelty beer drinking vessel.

- As deputy commander of the 2009 SAS patrol on Easter Sunday, he authorised the execution of an unarmed Afghan by a junior trooper in his patrol.

- He bullied a fellow soldier.

- In 2010, he bashed an unarmed Afghan in the face with his fists and in the stomach with his knee and in so doing alarmed two patrol commanders to the extent that they ordered him to back off.

- As patrol commander in 2012 he authorised the assault of an unarmed Afghan, who was being held in custody and posed no threat.

- He assaulted an unarmed Afghan in 2012.

#BRS #BenRobertsSmith

Well the Ben Roberts Smith defamation case confirms that his whole career has been part of a shameful period of history. We were decorating the people we should’ve been court marshalling. What a grub. What a stain. #BenRobertsSmith

RT @hughriminton@twitter.com

Witness Person 35 at the #BenRobertsSmith trial has explained what a 5-W report is.
“It’s who, what, when, where and why. (Pause) maybe not ‘who’ because that’s an ‘H’.”

🐦🔗: https://twitter.com/hughriminton/status/1519915017633628161

Man this feels like it's turning into a de-facto Royal Commission.

RT @hughriminton@twitter.com

BREAKING: #BenRobertsSmith is seeking permission to subpoena the commanding officer of the SASR to give evidence at his defamation trial. The officer was a troop commander during the Whiskey-108 mission where Nine alleges two prisoners were murdered. @10NewsFirst@twitter.com

🐦🔗: https://twitter.com/hughriminton/status/1519467194341494784