Elder loses bid to appeal ruling on genocide against King Charles

An Aboriginal elder pursuing a case of genocide against King Charles III has hit a legal hurdle.

Judges have rejected Krautatungalung elder Robbie Thorpe's landmark bid to prosecute King Charles III over the alleged genocide of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

The case alleges that the king, along with the Australian government and its institutions, is perpetuating genocide by maintaining systems that disadvantage Indigenous people across numerous socio-economic measures.

"Australia is just totally in denial," Mr Thorpe said. 

"If it wasn't for the acts of terror and the policies of genocide, Australia wouldn't exist.

"That's my reality, and a lot of other people's."

Monday's ruling by Victoria's Court of Appeal was Mr Thorpe's third legal defeat since he began trying in 2023 to launch a private prosecution against the monarch in Melbourne Magistrates' Court.

The alleged offences were continuing acts of genocide committed since September 28, 2022 against First Peoples, contrary to common law, federal law concerning genocide and First Peoples' sovereign laws.

But the filing was knocked back by a senior registrar of the Magistrates' Court on the grounds that it did not reference any "proper source of law".

A judicial review by the Supreme Court upheld the registrar's decision.

The Court of Appeal dismissed an application by Mr Thorpe to appeal the decision on the basis that it had no real prospect of success.

"While acknowledging the significance of the questions raised by Uncle Robbie, the primary judge stated [correctly and self-evidently] that the only jurisdiction she could exercise was the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court of Victoria," the appeal court said.

"The primary judge concluded that the senior registrar of the Magistrates' Court acted lawfully … as the charges alleged in the charge-sheet did not disclose an offence known to the law of Victoria."

It leaves the 68-year-old activist with one final domestic option: seeking permission to appeal to the High Court of Australia.

Mr Thorpe said on Monday he did not expect to receive a fair hearing in Australia. 

After exhausting his options in Australian courts, he said he would take his allegations against the monarch to the International Criminal Court (ICC) in the Netherlands.

"The International Criminal Court will expose Australia for what it really is — a lying, racist, illegal occupation committing genocide," Mr Thorpe said.

British monarch has common law immunity in UK

The British monarch has common law immunity from all criminal and civil liability in the United Kingdom, a condition that has likely been inherited by Australia.

This immunity will likely complicate any case brought against King Charles III.

Mr Thorpe said his efforts in Australian courts would play a role if the case reached an international jurisdiction.

"We're exhausting the domestic remedies," he said.

"It's accruing all this unwillingness, inability, reluctance to deal with these issues.

"Sooner or later, we'll get a chance in the international court, and this will all be relevant."

The ICC does not recognise head-of-state immunity and has the jurisdiction to prosecute on a charge of genocide.

But an individual such as Mr Thorpe does not have the option to launch a private prosecution in the ICC.

The UN Security Council can refer a prosecution, but is unlikely to do so with Britain as a member.

The most common path is for an individual to make the ICC's Office of the Prosecutor aware of evidence, as happened in cases against Russian President Vladimir Putin and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Mr Thorpe suggested Türkiye might be the country to take the charges to an international court.