Former soldier Roberts-Smith collaborated with Zero Limits, which sold War Crimes — The Guardian
In Australia, former soldier Ben Roberts-Smith appeared in a social media video created as part of a collaboration between his sportswear brand Epic 1 Two and supplement company Zero Limits. The company had previously promoted a pre-workout energy supplement called War Crimes, The Guardian reports.
Brand collaboration
In October, Roberts-Smith, Zero Limits co-owner Chris Katelaris, known as Big Chocky, and other people appeared in a video of a gym workout. The words “Zero Limits Supplements x Epic 1 Two” appeared on screen, and both brands were tagged as project collaborators. The video was published on both brands’ Instagram accounts.
Roberts-Smith also spoke positively about another Zero Limits pre-workout product: he posted a story in which he drinks the supplement and advised followers to visit the company’s website. He also appeared on a Zero Limits podcast hosted by another company founder.
The War Crimes supplement
Several months earlier, Zero Limits repeatedly posted online materials about the War Crimes product, with a Kill or Capture Cola flavour. The label depicted a hooded person on a chair in a room with an Australian flag, with a tall figure in a balaclava and military-style clothing standing nearby.
More current news is available on the UA.News Telegram channel Telegram.
On 26 July, Katelaris promoted the product in a video from a gym while holding a can of the supplement. War Crimes is currently not listed among the products on the Zero Limits website. Roberts-Smith was not shown in materials in which he endorsed, mentioned or consumed this specific product.
Charges against Roberts-Smith
In April, Roberts-Smith was arrested and charged with five war crimes related to murder. The charges concern three incidents during his service in Afghanistan in 2009 and 2012. He denies all charges against him and is awaiting trial.
Earlier, Australia’s Federal Court, in a civil defamation case and applying the balance of probabilities standard, found true allegations of the killing of unarmed civilians during Roberts-Smith’s service in the Australian Special Air Service Regiment. Zero Limits and Katelaris did not respond through a lawyer to the publication’s specific questions about the campaign.
