Ben Roberts-Smith has resigned from his function at Channel Seven, the day after his defamation case was thrown out of court docket in a landmark ruling.
The corporate’s managing director and chief government officer James Warburton made the announcement in an e-mail to workers on Friday.
“As you are all conscious, the judgement within the defamation case was handed down yesterday,” it stated.
“Ben has been on depart while the case was working, and at present has provided his resignation, which we’ve accepted.
“We thank Ben for his dedication to Seven and need him all one of the best.”
Roberts-Smith was the overall supervisor of Seven Queensland since 2015.
Yesterday, Federal Courtroom decide Justice Anthony Besanko discovered allegations Roberts-Smith murdered or was complicit within the killing of 4 unarmed Afghans whereas deployed abroad had been “considerably true” in a landmark defamation ruling.
Roberts-Smith had sued the newspapers round allegations of 5 illegal killings of Afghans the newspapers declare he both dedicated or was complicit in.
Kerry Stokes – Roberts-Smith’s former boss, monetary backer, and the chairperson of Seven West Media – launched a press release following the ruling yesterday saying he was “disillusioned” with the end result.
“The judgement doesn’t accord with the person I do know. I do know this will likely be significantly exhausting for Ben, who has all the time maintained his innocence.
“That his fellow troopers have disagreed with one another, this consequence would be the supply of extra grief.
“I have never had an opportunity to have a dialogue with Ben as but however I’ll when he has had an opportunity to completely take in the judgement.”
The marathon defamation trial was described as a proxy-war crime trial. It raised uncomfortable questions in regards to the Australian defence pressure, and examined the bounds of press freedom.
It started in June 2021 and sat for 110 days over 13 months, and heard from 41 witnesses together with three who gave proof from Afghanistan.
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