Ben Roberts-Smith is proud of his actions in Afghanistan, the former Australia soldier said in his first comments since a judge ruled he committed war crimes.
A landmark defamation case this month found the Victoria Cross recipient murdered four Afghan prisoners.
Mr Roberts-Smith says he is innocent and will consider filing an appeal.
“It’s a terrible outcome and it’s the incorrect outcome,” he told Nine News on Wednesday.
Speaking as he returned to Australia for the first time since the judgement was delivered on 1 June, he also said he would not apologise to those affected by his alleged crimes.
“We haven’t done anything wrong, so we won’t be making any apologies,” he said.
Mr Roberts-Smith sued three Australian newspapers over a series of articles alleging he had carried out unlawful killings and bullied fellow soldiers while deployed in Afghanistan between 2009-2012.
But Federal Court Judge Anthony Besanko threw out the former special forces corporal’s case against The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald, and The Canberra Times, ruling it was “substantially true” that Mr Roberts-Smith had murdered unarmed Afghan prisoners and civilians, and bullied peers.
Mr Roberts-Smith, who left the defence force in 2013, has not been charged over any of the claims in a criminal court, where there is a higher burden of proof.
The 44-year-old, who remains Australia’s most-decorated living soldier, had spent the days leading up to the civil court ruling on the Indonesian resort island of Bali.
