Ben Roberts-Smith is under police investigation for alleged war crimes in Afghanistan

The police investigation of Mr. Roberts-Smith, one of the country's most secret investigations, is the most serious investigation ever conducted by police over alleged war crimes. AFP, which declined to give details of its investigation based on an ongoing investigation, is competent to investigate allegations of unlawful acts committed by Australian soldiers serving abroad.

This is the second major investigation to open an investigation into the famous former Special Forces corporal who allegedly committed war crimes in Afghanistan.

A quasi-judicial investigation initiated by the Defense Inspector General in 2016 and led by NSW Court of Appeal Judge Paul Brereton, investigating separately Mr. Roberts-Smith, as well as a small number of other special forces soldiers.

AFP has recently begun to collect witness testimony from members of the Special Air Service Regiment in Perth after questioning them about Mr. Roberts-Smith, according to defense insiders.

It is understood that Mr. Roberts-Smith has not yet been interviewed by AFP, although the agency did not want to comment on the details of his investigation. As a general rule, people with an interest in a police investigation are only interviewed at later stages.

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Supporters of Mr. Roberts-Smith have repeatedly said that despite the information received, Brereton's investigation did not interest him, but his investigators never questioned him. However, legal sources who occasionally work alongside the Roberts-Smith legal team said that he had recently been liaising with his lawyers and his lawyer, Arthur Moses SC, in anticipation of his review by the Brereton Inquiry.

The developments are unprecedented. Never before has such a famous and decorated Australian soldier been the subject of a dual investigation: an alleged war crimes investigation by the country's police services and an investigation by a police officer. Inspector General investigating similar allegations.

Since Fairfax Media first detailed serious allegations against Mr. Roberts-Smith, he vehemently denied any wrongdoing in Afghanistan, insisting that he had a "clean criminal record" and insisted that those who claimed it were liars disgruntled or jealous.

The AFP investigation into alleged war crimes was moved several months ago from the evaluation phase, which usually involves badessing the credibility of allegations before the badignment of investigative resources, to a full investigation. equipped with detectives.

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Fairfax Media does not suggest that Mr. Roberts-Smith is guilty of war crimes, but simply that he is the subject of two investigations into allegations made by soldiers.

The federal police investigation is being conducted by the agency's Sensitive and Off-site Investigations Task Force, under the direction of Deputy Commissioner Neil Gaughan.

Given that war crimes allegations are considered "politically sensitive issues" by AFP, the decision to move them from the evaluation phase to the investigation phase involves a laborious process and a referral to hierarchical hierarchy. In some cases, AFP also notifies the Minister of the Interior, Peter Dutton.

The AFP investigation is under way at the agency's headquarters in Canberra and, in addition, the federal police office in Perth is conducting a separate investigation into threats to a sergeant in service of the Special Air Services Regiment. .

Fairfax Media does not suggest that Mr. Roberts-Smith is involved in these threats. However, evidence provided by defense sources suggests that the sergeant would have been threatened because he was suspected of contributing to the Brereton investigation.

Mr. Roberts-Smith vehemently denied any wrongdoing in Afghanistan, saying he had a "flawless record".

Senior army officials in Canberra were excluded from the investigation process of the federal police until recently, the command of special operations was only informed of the fact. existence of the survey last month.

Fairfax Media has confirmed by multiple military sources that the AFP and Brereton investigations had gathered a great deal of information from veterans of the armed forces and former members of the special forces who had served alongside Mr. Robertson. Smith in Afghanistan. The Brereton investigation has interviewed more than 200 witnesses under oath since 2016.

It is unclear whether Mr Dutton or Prime Minister Scott Morrison have been informed of the AFP's investigation of Mr Roberts-Smith, who has been appointed over the past five years within several defense committees of the federal government.

Mr. Roberts-Smith is the most decorated Afghan veteran of the Commonwealth. He received the Victoria Cross and the Gallantry Medal for his actions in Afghanistan in 2006 and 2010. He was appointed by former Prime Minister Tony Abbott to the presidency of the Day's Selection Committee. ;Australia. .

Fairfax Media detailed the allegations about Mr. Roberts-Smith earlier this year, relying on more than a dozen special forces insiders. Mr. Roberts-Smith reacted to the report by commencing a defamation proceeding and baderting that no witness would support what he described as malicious and baseless allegations about his behavior.

Since then, Roberts-Smith has received the public support of Australian War Memorial Director Brendan Nelson and his president, media mogul Kerry Stokes. Stokes selected Roberts-Smith as chief executive officer of Channel Seven after leaving the defense.

Nelson, a former defense minister, repeatedly criticized media reports and the Inspector General's investigation of Roberts-Smith, saying it was taking too long and " we want to believe in our heroes. "

However, Fairfax Media confirmed, on the part of special forces insiders, that more than a dozen SAS soldiers were participating in the Brereton case investigation. There are many who believe that it is necessary to look closely at allegedly unlawful acts to preserve the integrity of the regiment. They criticize Dr. Nelson's call, saying it was an attack on soldiers ready to voice their concerns about alleged battlefield fighting.

The former SAS officer and Afghanistan veteran, Andrew Hastie, who is now a coalition MP, is a very prominent proponent of the Brereton investigation.

Mr. Roberts-Smith claimed a series of articles published this year in L & # 39; age, The Sydney Morning Herald and The time of Canberra are defamatory because they describe him as a war criminal and also allege that he hit a woman with whom he had an affair. Mr. Roberts-Smith denies all allegations.

Fairfax does not acknowledge that it has made all the allegations alleged by Mr. Roberts-Smith. However, if the court decides otherwise, Fairfax claims to be able to prove that the claims are true.

In support of its defense of the truth, Fairfax alleges that Mr. Roberts-Smith was involved in six unlawful killings in Afghanistan, including an alleged incident in 2012 in which he allegedly kicked Ali Jan , an unarmed and handcuffed Afghan man, leading a soldier under his command to shoot him.

Mr. Roberts-Smith stated that the defense filed by Fairfax was "groundless" and "implicitly claims" that a list of 17 people, whose names were expurgated in the document, "will constitute witnesses to the 39, supporting Fairfax's claims against me ". .

Mr. Roberts-Smith said "confident that the witnesses called to appear in this case will say that Fairfax Media's allegations are false".

Last week, Mr. Roberts-Smith issued a new statement in which he denies any wrongdoing. The woman who claims to have punched her in the face in March submitted her badertions in an affidavit sworn in the defamation suit filed by the ex-soldier in Federal Court.

The woman spoke of the alleged badault to the ACT police in May, but then she told the police that she did not wish to file a criminal complaint, urging them to terminate their investigation. In the woman's affidavit, she alleges that she withdrew her complaint because she did not want her identity and that of her family revealed through possible prosecution.

ACT police said she had terminated her investigation because of "insufficient evidence to support prosecution".