A judge has warned the public to comply with a court order passed to protect the women who claimed they were sexually assaulted by Alex Salmond.
Lady Dorrian made the remarks during a procedural hearing into a case brought by prosecutors against former British diplomat Craig Murray.
The 61-year-old blogger is accused of being in contempt of court during the recent trial of the former SNP leader, who walked free from court.
Mr Murray, who now works as a blogger, attended two days of the trial against Mr Salmond at the High Court in Edinburgh before writing about it on his website.
Prosecutors claim some of the comments made by Mr Murray in his blog breached strict legal guidelines about what can be reported during high court proceedings.
Complainers in sexual assault trials are granted anonymity and reporters and members of the public are forbidden to reveal their identities.
During a virtual hearing today, prosecutor Alex Prentice QC told Lady Dorrian of his concerns that people may continue to reveal the names of the complainers.
This prompted Lady Dorrian, who sat with her colleagues Lord Glennie and Lord Turnbull, to issue a warning to people about the order.
She said that the women’s identities should not be revealed or any information be given which would allow people to identify who they were.
She added: “All those who are viewing these proceedings should be aware that the original contempt of court order remains in place.”
Mr Murray is an ex-UK ambassador to Uzbekistan.
Mr Salmond was cleared of 13 charges of sexual assault earlier this year. A further charge of sexual assault had previously been dropped by prosecutors.
The former first minister had maintained his innocence throughout the two week long trial which was held in March 2020.
The women who made the allegations against Mr Salmond included an SNP politician, a party worker and several current and former Scottish government civil servants and officials.
At another procedural hearing last month, Mr Murray’s lawyer John Scott QC told the court that it was his client’s hope that the hearing against him be held in a public court.
Mr Scott said he was aware that the continuing Covid 19 crisis would place restrictions on how Scottish courts could function in the next few months.
But the solicitor advocate told the judges that it was still Mr Murray’s hope that the hearing could take place in a physical court.
Experts fear that given the nature of Covid 19, restrictions need to be put in place in court buildings to prevent the spread of the virus.
The court also heard that Mr Murray intends to call witnesses to defend him.
Mr Prentice said he had some concerns about whether they could contribute anything which will assist the judges in their deliberations.
He added: “I have some issue given the relevancy of what these witnesses have to say.”
Lady Dorrian said: “I was surprised to see a list of witnesses at all and then I was quite surprised by the length of it and the first thing that came to mind was can it all be relevant?”
Mr Scott said they were relevant to his case.
The court then set a date for the full hearing to take place on October 22 and October 23 in court. It is not known whether the hearing will be conducted using video conferencing technology.
A further procedural hearing is expected to take place sometime in the near future. However, a date for such a hearing is yet to be arranged.
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