Pauline Hanson has rushed to defend Ben Roberts-Smith, after the former SAS soldier was arrested ahead of anticipated war crime charges.
Mr Roberts-Smith was arrested at Sydney Airport on Tuesday, with Federal Police announcing they intended to charge him with five counts of the war crime of murder in relation to the deaths of Afghan nationals between 2009 and 2012.
Senator Pauline Hanson has voiced her support for one of Australia’s most decorated soldiers.
“I remain steadfast in my support of Ben Roberts-Smith despite news of his arrest today,” Ms Hanson posted on X.
“Ben, his immediate and broader defence family need the Australian people’s support right now and I will not abandon him like so many other politicians.
“Ben was disgracefully arrested in front of his twin 15-year-old girls.”
Greens senator David Shoebridge posted a screenshot of an article about the arrests, and wrote: “Good.”
In 2023, Justice Anthony Besanko dismissed Mr Roberts-Smith’s defamation action against the Fairfax newspapers and ruled that on the balance of probabilities, the soldier was involved in the murder of four unarmed Afghani men.
Partner at top tier law firm Thomson Geer, Justin Quill, said given the 2023 ruling, the impending criminal charges were “not surprising”.
“Having said that, although it’s not surprising, for most of us he probably hasn’t been in our minds much and it is such a spectacular fall from grace that it is still – in that respect – surprising.
“This case has been, and will continue to be, pretty unprecedented in its context and size. This is effectively a war crime hearing in Australia. have we ever had such a thing? We’ve never had such a trial, although one soldier has been ordered to stand trial at a later date.”
Oliver Schulz, 43, was charged in 2023 with the war crime of murder after helmet-cam footage was published by the ABC which showed the shooting death of Afghan man Dad Mohammad in 2012.
Mr Schulz pleaded not guilty in the NSW Supreme Court in October and is not expected to stand trial until 2027.
Mr Quill said a critical point to understand about the Mr Roberts-Smith case was the 2023 ruling was made to the civil ‘balance of probabilities’ standard, not the criminal ‘beyond reasonable doubt’ standard, Mr Quill said.
“Therefore you shouldn’t assume because of Justice Besanko’s findings that the criminal court will necessarily make the same findings,” he said.
The six-month gap between Mr Roberts-Smith’s last legal challenge against the defamation ruling, and Tuesday’s arrest, led Mr Quill to believe the Australian Federal Police had additional evidence not yet heard in court.
