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

Push to access restricted files comes as government confirms there are 33 active investigations into alleged criminal offences by Australian soldiers

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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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