The Free Church Assembly voted to lift a censure on three men who allegedly tried to re-open the case against the Rev Professor Donald Macleod, contrary to an early Assembly ruling.
The censure was imposed by the 1997 General Assembly on the Rev Professor Hugh Cartwright of the Free Church College, Edinburgh, the Rev Angus Smith, Lewis, and Dr Murdo Murchison, a former medical officer of health in Grampian.
Mr Alex Morrison, an elder in Edinburgh Presbytery and former Chief Constable of Grampian urged the Assembly to lift the censure, saying last year's Assembly decision was contrary to Church legislation.
He claimed the 1997 Assembly was asked to censure three respected men of church without being given any documents or confirmation of what precisely they were accused of.
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