MOSCOW, December 4 (RIA Novosti) - Prosecutors in the Central Russian Tver Region are investigating the death of an Orthodox priest killed with his family at the weekend in an arson attack on their home.
Father Andrei Nikolayev of the Tver Diocese died together with his three young children in the early hours Saturday after unidentified attackers doused the house with gasoline and set fire to it. Earlier reports said his wife Ksenya had also died in the fire.
Regional prosecutors said five charred bodies were found at the site, although later reports suggested that not all family members had been identified.
Officials of the Tver Region's Security Council reported there remained some doubt as to whether the priest's wife was in the house at the time of the fire, and said she was being searched for in local hospitals.
The oldest of the children, David, was aged 9. His two younger sisters, Anna and Anastasia, were 7 and 4.
The head of the investigation department, Mikhail Sokolov, said: "The Prosecutor's Office of the Tver Region's Kuvshinovsky District has opened a criminal case pursuant to Part E, Article 105 of the Russian Penal Code [murder]."
Investigators regard arson as the most likely cause, but are keeping an open mind to other theories.
"All leads are on the table, but we have every reason to assume an arson attack took place."
Bishop Viktor, the top minister of the Tver diocese, said the Nikolayevs' home had previously been set fire to. According to local media, the priest had received death threats from fellow villagers, many of them heavy drinkers, over his unwillingness to let them spend parish funds on alcohol.
Negligence as a possible cause of the fire was dismissed at the initial stage of the inquiry. "No one in the household smoked or consumed alcoholic drinks, and the children were never left unattended," a Security Council spokesman said.
