ABC loses defamation case brought by former commando Heston Russell after public interest defence fails

Former commando Heston Russell sued the ABC for defamation over a series of articles linking him to alleged war crimes in Afghanistan in 2012. Photograph: Nikki Short/AAP

Former commando Heston Russell has won his defamation case against the ABC and been awarded $390,000 after a federal court judge found the public broadcaster did not prove its reporting was in the public interest.

But Justice Michael Lee did not find Russell’s “oral evidence as to his hurt to feelings persuasive” and did not award aggravated damages.