RSL President slams 10-year wait for charges from war crimes investigations
The veterans’ group said the delay was ‘unacceptable injustice’ and called on the government to explain when the pursuit of ex-soldiers would lead to charges or end.
RSL national president and former SAS officer Peter Tinley slammed the decade-long wait for charges over alleged war crimes in Afghanistan as an “unacceptable injustice” that is undermining confidence in the legal system and harming the Australian Defence Force.
“At what point do we stop pursing an investigation when we can’t bring a charge?” Mr Tinley told The Nightly today. “Is it 10 years? Is it 20 years?
“The Office of the Special Investigator needs to make charges against those accused or drop it and get on with it. Or the Government is entitled to ask the OSI (Office of the Special Investigator) or the Director of Public Prosecutions of the probability of securing a conviction.”
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By continuing you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy.Next month is the 10th anniversary of the instigation of the Brereton inquiry, which found “credible evidence” of 39 unlawful killings by special forces soldiers during the war, which began 25 years ago.
With the total bill for investigations to surpass $300 million by the end of this financial year, only one SAS veteran has been charged. His trial will not begin until 2027.
Ben Roberts-Smith
The Government referred questions to the OSI, the agency responsible for pursing veterans who may have committed war crimes, which did immediately respond to a request for comment.
The OSI, which has narrowed its focus to 13 investigations, has said it is working as quickly as possible.
The intervention by the RSL, which supported the 2020 findings of judge Peter Brereton, makes a major step up in the campaign by veterans and their supporters to end one of the most painful periods in the history of the defence forces.
Among the ex-soldiers assumed to be targeted by the OSI is Ben Roberts-Smith, the 98th Australian recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest-ranked military decoration. Mr Roberts-Smith has denied breaching the rules of war, although lost a defamation lawsuit in 2023 against newspapers and journalists who accused him of killing prisoners in 2009 and 2012.
Mr Tinley, a former WA MP who served as the deputy commander of the SAS in Afghanistan at the start of the war, demanded the OSI provide more information about its investigations. Most or all have targeted former members of the Special Air Service Regiment according to military sources.
“They can no longer hide behind this concept of security of information,” he said. “Transparency is a part of a legal system. They can’t just wave it away with a security wand.”
The secretive agency, which costs about $50 million a year, has refused to disclose if the 13 investigations under way are into 13 people or how close it is to advising the Commonwealth Director of Prosecutions to charge anyone.
“We are working very closely with the DPP,” OSI Director-General Chris Moraitis said three weeks ago in response to questions from Senator David Shoebridge, the Greens defence spokesman.
“We meet regularly with them and it’s an iterative process. We’ve had briefs with the DPP that have been considered and that have not been proceeded to prosecution, but that’s historical.”
The Opposition spokesman for defence personnel, Afghanistan veteran Phillip Thompson, said on Wednesday it was a “disgrace” soldiers and veterans had been called war criminals by media outlets. He supported the RSL’s call to resolve the investigations.
“Individuals who were identified as persons of interest years ago remain in limbo, unsure whether further action will be taken and unable to move forward with their lives,” he told The Nightly.
“This has had profound impacts on families, livelihoods, and veteran mental health.”
