Australia’s trial of the century: defamation case pitting the media against Victoria Cross soldier

Victoria Cross recipient Ben Roberts-Smith is suing three newspapers for defamation over reports he committed war crimes while serving in the Australian special forces in Afghanistan. Photograph: Bianca de Marchi/AAP

He remains Australia’s most decorated living soldier: once feted – almost revered – as the modern-day embodiment of this country’s Anzac legend.

The same man stands accused of murdering unarmed civilians in war, of a cowardly act of domestic violence, of bullying and violence and intimidation.