Highly decorated former soldier Ben Roberts-Smith VC MG sued on 16 media stories that collectively alleged among other things that he had murdered civilians in Afghanistan and committed an act of domestic violence against a woman in the Federal Court of Australia.
Last month, the Federal Court found Roberts-Smith had committed war crimes and upheld the defence of contextual truth in dismissing his claims.
Unsurprisingly, given the high stakes, Ben Roberts-Smith has appealed this decision.
Roberts-Smith is contesting some of the factual findings including all findings he committed murder, contending that Justice Anthony Besanko “cherrypicked” evidence in his judgment.
His appeal is understood to be funded by his billionaire backer and former boss, Kerry Stokes.
