{"id":119801,"date":"2023-10-30T08:39:44","date_gmt":"2023-10-30T08:39:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogcamlodipine.com\/?p=119801"},"modified":"2023-10-30T08:39:44","modified_gmt":"2023-10-30T08:39:44","slug":"nicola-sturgeon-should-face-jail-over-whatsapp-deletions-say-bereaved-families","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogcamlodipine.com\/politics\/nicola-sturgeon-should-face-jail-over-whatsapp-deletions-say-bereaved-families\/","title":{"rendered":"Nicola Sturgeon should face jail over WhatsApp deletions, say bereaved families"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nicola Sturgeon on Covid inquiry in 2021<\/h3>\n

The group Scottish Covid Bereaved has said unless Nicola Sturgeon has a \u201creasonable excuse\u201d for deleted her WhatsApps from her time in Government during the pandemic, she should be fined and\/or imprisoned for up to 51 weeks.<\/p>\n

In a letter to Humza Yousaf, the group\u2019s lawyer said he hoped a Section 21 notice with \u201ccriminal penalties\u201d for failing to comply would \u201cfocus minds\u201d and \u201cencourage the most thorough process of complying with requests\u201d.<\/p>\n

However he said the group do not \u201cfancy their chances\u201d as the Scottish Government \u201chas had an army of lawyers\u201d.<\/p>\n

It is understood that Ms Sturgeon\u2019s messages from the time of the pandemic were manually deleted from her phone.<\/p>\n

The revelation over the weekend caused outrage, compounded when video footage emerged showing Ms Sturgeon at a Covid press conference give an unequivocal promise that her messages would be handed over to any future public inquiry.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: <\/strong> Nicola Sturgeon and Humza Yousaf on the spot over ‘deleted Covid messages’<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

A journalist in 2021 asked: \u201cCan you guarantee to the bereaved families that you will disclose emails, WhatsApps, private emails if you\u2019ve been using them, whatever, that nothing will be off limits in this inquiry?\u201d<\/p>\n

The then-First Minister replied: \u201cI think you understand that statutory public inquiries you would know that even if I wasn\u2019t prepared to give that assurance – which for the avoidance of doubt I am – then I wouldn\u2019t have the ability [to withhold them].<\/p>\n

\u201cThis will be a judge-led statutory public inquiry. I think it\u2019s also fair to say\u2026 we\u2019re further ahead than any government in the UK in not just committing to a public inquiry but actually getting it into operation.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople will judge the public inquiry as it progresses\u2026 but as the leader of a government over these past 18 months – and I mean this really really strongly – I desperately want every appropriate lesson from what we\u2019ve gone through to be learned so any future government, hopefully not for decades to come, has the benefit of that learning.\u201d<\/p>\n

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