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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
National
Ben Doherty

Ben Roberts-Smith fights war crime investigators’ push to access sensitive court files

Ben Roberts-Smith
Ben Roberts-Smith’s lawyers oppose the release of closed court transcripts which contain evidence obtained by the Inspector-General of the Australian Defence Force inquiry into allegations of potential war crimes committed by Australian soldiers in Afghanistan. Photograph: Rick Rycroft/AP

Ben Roberts-Smith is fighting efforts by government war crimes investigators to access restricted and sensitive court files from his failed defamation case, as the government confirms it is investigating more than 30 alleged criminal offences by Australian soldiers over a decade in Afghanistan.

After Roberts-Smith’s defamation action against three Australian newspapers was dismissed in its entirety in the federal court in June, the commonwealth government sought access to the defamation case’s sensitive court file.

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