A former Australian Defence Force (ADF) member has been arrested at Sydney Airport and is expected to be charged with five counts of the war crime of murder.
SBS understands the soldier is Ben Roberts-Smith, Australia's most-decorated living Afghanistan veteran.
The 47-year-old was taken into custody on Tuesday and is due to appear in a NSW court later in the day.
The charges relate to alleged unlawful killings of civilians in Afghanistan's Uruzgan Province between 2009 and 2012.
Australian Federal Police (AFP) and the Office of the Special Investigator (OSI) allege he intentionally caused the death of a person on or about 12 April 2009 at Kakarak, and separately aided, abetted, counselled or procured another person to do so on the same date and location.
He is also alleged to have aided, abetted, counselled or procured the intentional killing of a person on or about 11 September 2012 at Darwan.
Further charges relate to events on or about 20 October 2012 at Syahchow, where it is alleged he acted with another person to intentionally cause the death of an individual, and separately aided, abetted, counselled or procured another person to do the same.
"It will be alleged the victims were detained unarmed and were under the control of ADF members when they were killed," AFP commissioner Krissy Barrett told reporters on Tuesday.
Each of the offences carries a maximum penalty of life imprisonment.
'We don't have crime scene access'
The OSI has defended its protracted investigation into the disgraced soldier — a five-year probe that culminated in his arrest on Tuesday.
"The challenge for investigators is that because we can't go to that country, we don't have access to the crime scene … We don't have photographs, site plans, measurements, the recovery of projectiles, blood spatter analysis: all of those things we would normally get at a crime scene," director of investigations Ross Barnett said.
"If you add to that, we don't have access to the deceased," he added.
"There's no post-mortem; therefore, there's no official cause of death. There's no recovery of projectiles to link to weapons that might have been carried by members of the ADF."
Roberts-Smith previously brought defamation proceedings against three newspapers, denying allegations that he committed war crimes, murdered unarmed civilians and engaged in bullying conduct towards fellow soldiers.
In a lengthy civil trial, the Federal Court found against him, with a judge determining — to the civil standard of the balance of probabilities — that he was responsible for four unlawful killings while serving in Afghanistan.
He appealed that decision to the full bench of the Federal Court but was unsuccessful, and a subsequent application for special leave to appeal to the High Court was refused.
The OSI is an Australian Commonwealth executive agency established in 2021 to investigate alleged war crimes committed by ADF personnel in Afghanistan between 2005 and 2016.
Working with the AFP, it reviews findings from the inspector-general of the ADF and prepares briefs for criminal prosecution.
The joint OSI–AFP investigation started in 2021, and inquiries are continuing.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese declined to comment on Tuesday, stating: "I'm not going to confirm anything to do with the legal matter. That is a matter that is very important that there not be political engagement in what is a matter that is now the subject of legal proceedings. So I don't intend to comment."
For the latest from SBS News, download our app and subscribe to our newsletter.
