Former soldier Ben Roberts-Smith has been ordered to pay the legal costs of several media outlets following a failed defamation action over allegations he committed war crimes.
The Federal Court ruled in June that articles published by Nine Newspapers and The Canberra Times alleging Roberts-Smith’s involvement in four murders during his deployment to Afghanistan were substantially true.
He was not criminally charged and has since appealed the decision.
He was ordered by the court on Tuesday to pay the outlets’ legal costs, determined on the basis of damages for the long-running defamation trial, which took 110 days.
Ben Roberts-Smith (pictured) has been ordered to pay the legal costs of several publishers after a failed defamation action over allegations he committed war crimes
Costs to counterparties are expected to exceed $25 million (photo is Roberts-Smith)
Estimates put the cost to the counterparties at more than $25 million.
Nine titles The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, as well as The Canberra Times, reported allegations that the SAS soldier was involved in the murder of four unarmed prisoners.
The publisher’s barrister, Nicholas Owens SC, told the court earlier this year that Mr Roberts-Smith had filed a lawsuit to conceal the truth and would have succeeded if the newspapers had failed to prove their claims .
“It must inevitably and necessarily be the case that the applicant commenced and continued these proceedings knowing that the allegations made were factually true,” he said.