Fact-checking Ben Roberts-Smith

Ben Roberts-Smith, a former Australian SAS commando facing five war crimes charges for alleged murders in Afghanistan between 2009 and 2012, was interviewed by Ben Fordham on radio station 2GB. The two-and-a-half-hour interview aired on October 21, also premiering on YouTube the same day as part of a new strategy to reach audiences via digital platforms. During the interview, Roberts-Smith denied shooting prisoners or witnessing fellow soldiers do so and stated he would not change anything about his military career despite facing serious allegations. The Victoria Cross recipient, who recently launched an apparel brand called EPIC 1 TWO, also faced tough questions from Fordham regarding alleged incidents where weapons were placed on dead bodies to misrepresent the circumstances of their deaths. This interview comes ahead of Roberts-Smith’s upcoming criminal trial and follows a defamation case in which a judge found that he murdered one civilian and three combatants who were not posing any threat at the time, findings contested by Roberts-Smith during his radio appearance.