Ben Roberts-Smith granted bail variation to move to Brisbane
Decorated soldier and alleged war criminal Ben Roberts-Smith has been granted a bail change so he can move to Brisbane to be closer to his family.
Mr Roberts-Smith was arrested by the Australian Federal Police in April and charged with five counts of war crime murder.
The former SAS soldier is alleged to have been involved in the murders of five unarmed men while serving in Afghanistan between 2009 and 2012.
He has not yet entered a plea to any of the charges.
At Downing Center Local Court on Monday, Judge Susan Horan agreed to the bail amendment to allow Mr Roberts-Smith to move to Brisbane to be closer to his family.
He has long maintained his innocence regarding the allegations that were the subject of an unsuccessful defamation lawsuit filed in the Federal Court against Dokuz Newspaper.
Mr Roberts-Smith has consistently denied any wrongdoing and the Federal Court’s findings against him were made on civil standards on the balance of probabilities which are below criminal standards beyond reasonable doubt.
The first two charges relate to the alleged murder of two men at a compound known as Whiskey 108 in Kakarak on April 12, 2009.
Mr Roberts-Smith is alleged to have ordered another police officer to kill a man and shot another man with a prosthetic leg in the head.
He was also allegedly involved in the killing of Afghan shepherd Ali Jan in Darwan in September 2012, kicking the handcuffed man off a cliff and then ordering a junior member of his patrol to shoot him.
The last two charges relate to the alleged murder of two “persons under control” at Syahchow in October 2012, when Mr Roberts-Smith allegedly ordered another soldier to execute one of the prisoners.
He is also alleged to have jointly murdered the other “person in control” and then “threw” (pieces of military equipment) over the bodies, giving the appearance of a lawful conflict killing.
He will appear in court again on September 1.
