Court rules Afghan witnesses can give evidence remotely in Ben Roberts-Smith defamation case

Federal Court Justice Anthony Besanko says he will allow four Afghan villagers and a person with the Australian Defence Force to give evidence remotely from overseas in the defamation case of a Special Air Service Regimen (SAS) veteran.

Ben Roberts-Smith is suing The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald and The Canberra Times over a series of articles which he said wrongly suggest he disgraced the Australian Army while serving overseas.

The villagers from Darwan are expected to give evidence about the alleged murder of a man in 2012.

In Mr Roberts-Smith’s statement of claim, the former SAS soldier said the articles were defamatory because they portrayed him as someone who “broke the moral and legal rules of military engagement”.

The articles…