Australia's most decorated living veteran, Ben Roberts-Smith, has been charged with war crime charges for allegedly murdering five unarmed Afghans while serving in Afghanistan from 2009-2012. The 47-year-old former soldier, who was awarded the Victoria Cross and Medal of Gallantry for his service, is only the second Australian veteran of the Afghanistan campaign to be charged with a war crime. The charges follow a military report in 2020 that found evidence that elite Australian SAS and commando regiment troops unlawfully killed 39 Afghan prisoners, farmers, and other noncombatants. Despite previous attempts to clear his name of court findings that he unlawfully killed four Afghans, the new charges will need to be proved in a criminal court to a higher standard of beyond reasonable doubt.