THE TELEGRAPH: The self-proclaimed heir to Russia’s imperial throne has demanded the reopening of the investigation into the murder of Tsar Nicholas II and his family by Bolsheviks in 1918.
The Russian Prosecutor-General has formally closed a criminal investigation into the shooting because too much time had elapsed since the crime and because those responsible had died.
But monarchists said a resumption of the criminal case was essential if Russia as finally to come to terms with its brutal past.
“This case is essential for Russia,” said Alexander Zakatov, who represents Grand Duchess Maria Vladimirovna, a Romanov who styles herself as the heir to the imperial throne.
“Russians need to know about the fate of the tsarist family and all of the other victims of the Communist regime. There should be a clear legal verdict on this,” said Zakatov, who heads the chancellery of Russia’s so-called Imperial House.
He said lawyers for Mrs Vladimirovna had asked Moscow’s Basmanny court to force prosecutors to reopen the case, which he said was needed to resolve a host of questions about the murder and remains said to belong to the last tsar.
Nicholas II, his wife and five children were killed by a revolutionary firing squad in July 1918 in the cellar of a merchant’s house in Yekaterinburg, 900 miles east of Moscow. >>> The Telegraph’s Foreign Staff | Saturday, January 16, 2010
