Australia’s most decorated soldier has lost a multi-million dollar defamation case against three newspapers who accused him of war crimes, paving the way for greater “urgency” in pursuing others, say experts sallyguyoncourt reports
Judge Anthony Besanko said the articles published in 2018 bywere substantially true about a number of war crimes committed by the 44-year-old former Special Air Service regiment corporal who is now a media company executive.These included kicking an unarmed, handcuffed farmer off a cliff into a riverbed where an SAS colleague shot the farmer dead in 2012, and killing a prisoner who had a prosthetic leg by firing a machine gun into the man’s back in 2009.
“It would be very surprising to me if Mr Roberts-Smith was not interviewed and there are other people within this case who are likely implicated. was charged with the war crime of murder in the death of an Afghan who was shot in 2012 in a wheat field in Uruzgan province.“The case is likely to attract some political attention which could mean more urgency whether that is in providing more infrastructure or funding to get this investigation done.”
The burden of proof in civil cases is on balance of probabilities whereas in criminal cases it must be beyond reasonable doubt.the result was “an enormous victory” and “a very important case for Australia, for freedom of speech and what the public knows”.
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