This is the epilogue to one of the main trials in recent years in Scotland: that of Alex Salmond, 65, former Prime Minister of the British nation and ex-chairman of the SNP (Scottishs National Party, the party Scottish separatist), for sexual assault and attempted rape. The former prime minister was acquitted on Monday (March 23) of the facts for which he was on trial before the Edinburgh High Court.
He was accused of thirteen sexual assaults and attempted rapes against nine women, alleged to have been committed between June 2008 and November 2014, notably in his official residence. The former politician, who led the Scottish government from 2007 to 2014 and led Scotland to the brink of independence, claimed his innocence.
During his trial, he had denounced "Exaggerations" and "Inventions" politically motivated. After the jury's verdict after eleven days of trial, Alex Salmond said his faith in Scottish justice came out "Reinforced".
"Whatever nightmare I've lived in the past two years is nothing compared to the nightmare that each of us is going through today", he added, referring to the Covid-19 pandemic. “People are dying and many more will die. " He urged those present to remain confined to their homes.
At the head of the SNP
A former civil servant and economist at the Bank of Scotland, in 1990 he took over the reins of the SNP, a very heterogeneous group that he helped refocus.
After having slammed the door of the party in 2000 after an electoral setback, he returned to his head four years later and had been elected Prime Minister of Scotland in 2007. In 2011, under his leadership, the SNP had won the absolute majority in the Scottish Parliament of Holyrood, letting him hope that the independence of Scotland was at hand.
The no finally won in the independence referendum in September 2014, leading to the resignation of Prime Minister Salmond a few weeks later.
