The Australian Federal Police and the Office of the Special Investigator want access to restricted documents from Ben Roberts-Smith’s multimillion-dollar case.
Besanko found the newspapers had proven to the civil standard – on the balance of probabilities – that Roberts-Smith was a war criminal who was complicit in the murder of four unarmed prisoners in Afghanistan. He also found the news outlets had proven the former Special Air Service corporal had bullied a fellow soldier..
“Criminal offences of the kind being investigated are extremely grave and their thorough investigation is of national and international importance,” Besanko said. Roberts-Smith’s lawyers applied to have a new judge decide the Commonwealth’s application for changes to national security orders, which were made in Roberts-Smith’s case in 2020 to protect sensitive information, and a separate application by the OSI for access to the court documents.
“I consider the circumstances of this case are unusual, particularly in light of the strong findings I have made against [Roberts-Smith]. I have reached the conclusion ... that the fair-minded lay observernot bring an impartial mind to the resolution of the Commonwealth’s applications ,” Besanko said in his decision on Friday.
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