Ben Roberts-Smith has received another judicial roasting over his failed appeal against war criminal findings, as he was ordered to pay a lump sum to Nine Newspapers.

The decorated soldier had appealed his 2023 Federal Court loss after he sued the publisher for defamation over reports claiming he was complicit in the murder of four unarmed civilians in Afghanistan.

Roberts-Smith disputed Justice Anthony Besanko's findings that the allegations were substantially true, arguing that was not backed up by sufficient evidence for such serious claims.

While losing his appeal, his conduct differed from his protests of innocence at trial, appeal court Justices Nye Perram and Geoffrey Kennett said.

That therefore did not open the former special forces soldier to again paying Nine's legal costs o

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