ALEX Salmond has been urged to leave "no stone unturned" in the search for justice for murdered waiter Surjit Singh Chhokar.
Glasgow MSP Humza Yousaf asked Mr Salmond at First Minister's Questions to do "everything in his power" to ensure the case was pursued following recent legislative changes on the double jeopardy law and the jailing of Stephen Lawrence's killers.
Mr Chhokar was killed in Overton, North Lanarkshire, in 1998 and three men were tried for his murder in two separate trials but none was found guilty.
Mr Salmond said the Lord Advocate, Frank Mulholland, has asked Solicitor- General Lesley Thomson to review and prioritise cases which could be prosecuted.
Mr Salmond pointed out that for cases to be brought under the double jeopardy laws there had to be "new and compelling evidence".
In answer to a question from Labour justice spokesman Lewis Macdonald, Mr Salmond offered an assurance that prosecutors had the resources necessary to pursue cold cases.
Mr Yousaf said the jailing of Stephen Lawrence's killers showed the impact new evidence could have in delivering justice.
He said: "To those who committed this heinous crime they should be sleeping uneasy in their bed at night."
Aamer Anwar, a long-time campaigner for justice for the Chhokar family, said they would be highlighting the case on a visit to Holyrood planned for Tuesday.
As The Herald reported earlier this week, the Crown Office has also been urged to re-open the "racist" murder of a Somali student in Edinburgh 23 years ago.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article