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Former Leader of Scotland Alex Salmond Cleared of Sexually Assaulting Nine Women

Nine different women—all former colleagues—accused the former first minister of sexual misconduct.

The former leader of Scotland Alex Salmond has been cleared of sexually assaulting nine women while he was in office. Salmond was the first minister of Scotland’s devolved government between 2007 and 2014, and resigned shortly after the country voted against becoming independent from the United Kingdom that year. On Monday, a jury at Scotland’s high court found him not guilty of 12 charges of attempted rape, sexual assault, and indecent assault. An unusual Scottish verdict of not proven was given for one charge of sexual assault with intent to rape, according to The Guardian. During a two week trial in Edinburgh, Salmond had repeatedly said he was innocent of all the charges against him. All the charges involved women who are current or former Scottish government officials, or politicians from Salmond’s former political group the Scottish National Party.