Australia’s most decorated living soldier was arrested Tuesday and charged with five counts of war crimes related to the killing of unarmed civilians in Afghanistan, authorities said.

Former Australian Defence Force (ADF) member Ben Roberts-Smith, 47, was arrested at Sydney Airport after arriving on a flight from Brisbane, Australian Federal Police Commissioner Krissy Barrett said.

Authorities said the alleged killings occurred between 2009 and 2012 and involved five victims. 

Barrett said the victims were believed to be civilians and not involved in hostilities at the time of their deaths. She added that they were shot either by Roberts-Smith himself or by subordinates acting on his orders and under his supervision.

Roberts-Smith, a former Special Air Service (SAS) Regiment corporal, was awarded multiple top military honors, including the Victoria Cross and Medal of Gallantry, for his service during six tours in Afghanistan from 2006 to 2012. 

Roberts-Smith has repeatedly denied any misconduct during his military career. In 2018, a series of reports by Nine Entertainment newspapers alleged he killed an unarmed Afghan teenager and pushed a handcuffed man off a cliff before ordering his death.

Roberts-Smith challenged the allegations in what became Australia’s most costly defamation trial. In 2023, a Federal Court judge ruled that the newspapers had proven four of the six murder claims. His final appeal was rejected by the High Court in September 2025.

He is scheduled to appear in court Wednesday for a bail hearing on the war crime charges. If convicted, Roberts-Smith could face life in prison.

Roberts-Smith is only the second Australian veteran of the Afghanistan campaign to face such charges. Former SAS soldier Oliver Schulz, 44, pleaded not guilty to a single charge of war crime murder in 2012.