Salmond’s allies vow to bring him “justice” from beyond the grave by taking up the legal battle he started

Alex Salmond’s allies have vowed to secure him “justice” from beyond the grave by taking up his bitter legal battle against the SNP government.

Friends and supporters are considering how a legal battle can proceed to ensure he is “vindicated” and former colleagues are held accountable.

Mr Salmond filed a petition in the Court of Session last year alleging Scottish Government officials had used their lawful power to harm him.

He had accused officials of “misconduct” in the botched investigation into harassment allegations against him.

Former MP Joanna Cherry claimed Mr Salmond had been “stabbed in the back” by former colleagues and friends and insisted his name would be cleared.

Conservative MP David Davis, a close friend of the former first minister, also promised he would “continue the fight to ensure justice prevails”.

It follows the shocking news on Saturday evening that Mr Salmond had died after collapsing at an event in North Macedonia.

In a series of developments yesterday:

Scottish Government officials were in discussions with the Foreign Office about whether they could help return Mr Salmond’s body to Scotland.

Moira, the Alba party leader’s wife, was comforted at home in Strichen, Aberdeenshire, after being informed of her husband’s death by telephone shortly before the announcement.

Tributes continued to pour in from across the political spectrum, with former prime minister David Cameron describing him as “a giant of Scottish and British politics” and Succession star Brian Cox saying he was “one of the greatest political thinkers”.

When he submitted his petition to the Court of Session last November, Mr Salmond said not a single person had been “held to account” for the Scottish Government’s botched investigation into complaints against him, which proved to be unlawful and blatantly biased .

He claimed significant sums for reputational damage after the Scottish government previously had to pay him more than £512,000 in legal fees when it lost the Court of Session judicial review case in 2019.

In March 2020, Mr Salmond was then found not guilty of 12 of the sexual assault charges against him, while a further charge was found unproven.

The developments led to a spectacular breakdown in his friendship with Nicola Sturgeon, his former close friend and protégé, leaving them unable to speak to each other in recent years.

Ms Cherry, who was SNP MP for Edinburgh South West from 2015 until her defeat in this year’s general election, told BBC’s The Sunday Show: “We are innocent until proven guilty in this country for a reason and “I am very dismayed as an attorney” by the lack of respect for the jury’s verdict in Alex’s criminal complaint.

“It sometimes concerns me that people don’t take seriously enough the seriousness of the fact that a government investigation was found to be blatantly biased against a former first minister.”

“Of course Alex has an outstanding civil case and there are outstanding criminal investigations that we can’t say much about.” I think it’s a terrible tragedy that Alex died before he could be fully rehabilitated.

“But I believe time will vindicate his name and I think more and more people across the political divide in Scotland are becoming interested in what went on behind the scenes in relation to Alex Salmond.”

“And I think it is the great tragedy of Alex Salmond’s career that so many of his former comrades, political colleagues and friends either stabbed him in the back or turned their backs on him in his hour of need.”

“I found that quite disgusting at the time and I’m very proud that I stood by him and I think it’s very important that in the days to come, when we talk about him, we remember that he was opposed by everyone He was acquitted of the criminal charges against him.”‘

Mr Davis, who used parliamentary privilege in the House of Commons earlier this year to read out a series of messages which he said showed “perjury to the point of criminal conspiracy”, vowed to continue the fight on Mr Salmond’s behalf.

He said he was due to meet Mr Salmond on Sunday evening “to discuss the next round in dealing with the Scottish Government’s malicious actions against him and the failure of the rule of law in Scotland”.

Mr. Davis wrote in the email on Sunday: “In his memory, I will continue the fight to ensure that justice prevails.”

“And it will be Alex Salmond’s victory when we achieve protection of privilege for the Scottish Parliament, when we achieve a proper separation of powers between the executive and the Scottish judiciary and when we impose a duty of openness on the Scottish Parliament for the first time Scottish Government.’

In a separate case, the Scottish Information Commissioner has demanded disclosure of the legal advice the Scottish Government received before it decided to appeal its decision to publish independent adviser James Hamilton’s full report on whether Ms Sturgeon was questioned has breached the ministerial code regarding their handling of complaints about Mr Salmond.

A close ally of Mr Salmond said: “There are people who are really upset and just want to pay tribute to what Alex did, but others are really upset and want justice for people who, in their opinion, pretty much ruined the last years of his life have spoiled.” difficult.

“I imagine there will be some people who want to support David Davis.”