Ben Roberts-Smith to appeal after defamation case was dismissed by federal court

Ben Roberts-Smith will appeal a decision of the federal court which dismissed in June his defamation case against three newspapers. Photograph: Dean Lewins/AAP

Ben Roberts-Smith has launched an appeal after he lost his war crimes defamation trial in the federal court.

Justice Anthony Besanko found in June that three newspapers had proved Roberts-Smith had, on the balance of probabilities, murdered unarmed civilians while serving in the Australian military in Afghanistan.