Ewing compares SNP treatment of Salmond to Stalin's of foes

He would later be cleared in the High Court of all offences and would accuse figures in the Scottish government and SNP of a plot against him, which was denied.

But Fergus Ewing - a long time friend of Mr Salmond and a member of perhaps the most well-known Scottish nationalist family - likened his party's treatment of the former leader to that of Joseph Stalin of his foes.

READ MORE: 

• Cost of RAF repatriation for Alex Salmond revealed
• Alex Salmond's enemies in the SNP should fear what will happen now
• Alex Salmond death: Court case and police probe to continue

Mr Salmond delivered the eulogy at the funeral service for Mr Ewing's mother Winnie, the legendary SNP politician, who died last year.

"Over the past years, the party he transformed and led to victory turned against him and quite literally erased him from their history," Mr Ewing wrote in the Times.

"They tried to pretend he did not exist. They never talked about him or even uttered his name.

"He made them. They in turn spurned and shunned him.

"In a way it was comparable to Stalin who, after removing 'enemies of the state' would wipe all traces of them from official photographs.

READ MORE:

• Alex Salmond: Allies' sorrow turns to anger with SNP

"It was, in the true sense of the word, pathetic and it was shameful."

Mr Salmond's death drew tributes from those he had formerly been close to, including his deputy and successor Nicola Sturgeon, who acknowledged the "breakdown" of the relationship between the two, but praised him as "an incredibly significant figure in my life".

But Mr Ewing attacked what he said was a lack of "contrition" in the tributes.

"In the so-called tributes from some in the leadership over the past few sad says, not one single word of contrition has been uttered for this ugliest of defenestrations," he wrote.

The late Winnie Ewing, photograph: PA Archive

"In the past three years, it was my privilege to work with Alex on all sorts of matters.

"By far the most important of all was to obtain truth and justice for the way he was the subject of what I believe was a concerted campaign by some of the 'top' people in the land."

He went on to describe a "malevolent and wicked campaign" which, if it had succeeded, he said could have ended with Mr Salmond having "died in a prison cell".

Mr Ewing concluded that, until "the truth of this scandal is exposed, Scotland as a country is diminished".

The former first minister had launched a second legal action against the Scottish Government - after a judge ruled the probe into two harassment complaints against him was "tainted with apparent bias" and awarded him more than £500,000 in 2019 - accusing senior figures, including Ms Sturgeon and former permanent secretary Leslie Evans of "misfeasance".

According to Alba Party acting leader - and a lifelong friend of Mr Salmond - Kenny MacAskill, the action can still be taken forward by the former first minister's family, a move which he supported.

While Mr Ewing wrote that he will "continue to devote myself to securing that truth and justice".

Giving evidence to a Scottish Parliament committee holding an inquiry into the botched harassment complaint investigation, Mr Salmond accused those at the highest echelons of the Scottish Government of a plot against him, something then first minister Ms Sturgeon called "absurd".

John Swinney was asked on Sunday about Mr Salmond’s break with the SNP, and the “bitterness” that arose between Mr Salmond and his protegee Ms Sturgeon in the last few years.

The First Minister told BBC Scotland: “Obviously, it’s been a very difficult few years, and there will be time to reflect on all of those issues in the days to come. But I think today, I think all of us can recognise the formidable contribution that Alex Salmond made.”

Mr Swinney said his relationship with Mr Salmond had become "more distant" since Mr Salmond lost his Westminster seat in 2017.

Asked if he regretted not being able to mend that relationship, the First Minister said: "I saw Alex over this summer. We met at an event in Edinburgh, and he congratulated me on my election as First Minister, and we talked at that moment about the experience of being First Minister."

Meanwhile, work to repatriate Mr Salmond's body continues, with a top aide to the organiser of the conference the former SNP leader was attending when he died saying a "special flight" will return him to Scotland.

Boris Josifovski - who works for former North Macedonian president Gjorge Ivanov, told the Associated Press paperwork was "nearly finished" on Monday and the flight would likely take off from the city of Ohrid in the country's south west.