Nicola Sturgeon today refused to answer questions about whether her husband is ‘innocent’ as she made her first public return to Holyrood since her dramatic arrest.

The ex-SNP leader, speaking to reporters at the Scottish Parliament, was quizzed about her detention as part of a police probe into the spending of £600,000 in donations.

Ms Sturgeon, who departed as Scotland’s first minister at the end of March, said she was ‘absolutely certain that I have done nothing wrong’.

She also continued to defy calls – including from senior SNP figures – for her to step aside from the SNP while Police Scotland’s Operation Branchform continues.

Ms Sturgeon claimed temporarily suspending her SNP membership would ‘compromise my ability and my right to assert my position that I hold absolutely, which is that I have done nothing wrong’.

But asked whether her husband Peter Murrell – the SNP’s former chief executive who was arrested in April as part of the Police Scotland investigation – was ‘innocent’, the former first minister declined to answer.

She replied: ‘Before I say what I’m about to say, I’m saying it as a statement of fact – not a loaded statement that you should read anything into one way or another.

‘But in a situation like this I can only speak for myself and I am only speaking for myself.’

Ms Sturgeon admitted the past few weeks had ‘not been the best period in my life’.

She added: ‘It’s not an easy period. I’m not saying that for sympathy… The thing that sustains me right now is the certainty that I have done nothing wrong.

‘It is a belief and a certainty that I have.’

Ms Sturgeon was released without charge pending further investigation after being quizzed on 11 June for more than seven hours as part of the probe into the SNP’s finances.

She is the third senior SNP figure to have been arrested as part of Operation Branchform.

Read Related Also: Prince William pledges to ‘end homelessness’ and plans to build social housing on Duchy of Cornwall

It followed the arrests of her Mr Murrell and former SNP treasurer Colin Beattie in April, who have also both been released without charge.

Ahead of Ms Sturgeon’s return to the Scottish Parliament today, her successor Humza Yousaf told Sky News he was ‘not surprised’ his predecessor was coming back to Holyrood.

Asked if part if him wished she was not returning, the SNP leader said: ‘No, not at all.

‘She’s a very good parliamentarian. She’s got a good contribution to make and therefore I’m not surprised she’s coming back to parliament.’

He added: ‘She’s been released without charge, she’s going to get on with the job of representing her constituents.

‘I’ll get on with my job of representing my constituents and making sure I’m leading the country as the First Minister of Scotland.’

Ms Sturgeon departed as first minister and SNP leader in March and the subsequent dramatic developments in the police probe have seen a drop in the party’s popularity.

A Panelbase poll this weekend showed Labour were on course to win more seats than the SNP at the next general election.

But Mr Yousaf denied that the current troubles experienced by his party and Ms Sturgeon would be a ‘death knell’ for the SNP’s campaign for Scottish independence.

He said: ‘I don’t believe that at all. What I believe is that, yes, the last couple of months have been extremely challenging for the SNP – I’m not going to fool your viewers by denying that being the case.

‘Even despite the toughest few weeks, the toughest couple of months probably in our party’s recent history, support for independence is absolutely rock solid.

‘So we’ve got that solid support for independence, my job is to make sure that when these matters pass – and they will pass – we continue to build on those strong foundations that has seen us elected by the people of Scotland election after election after election.

‘The next national test, of course, will be that general election and I’ve got every confidence we will go into that election hoping to win.’

Source: | This article originally belongs to Dailymail.co.uk