MOSCOW, October 20 (RIA Novosti) - The Russian Prosecutor's Office has rejected an application by the head of the Russian Imperial House to reopen a criminal case into the murder of the country's last tsar, a lawyer said on Tuesday.
German Lukyanov said Grand Duchess Maria Romanov would appeal.
Last year, Russia's Supreme Court ordered the exoneration of Tsar Nicholas II and his family members following a request by the grand duchess.
However, the court said there were no criminal offences committed against the royal family, as they were shot on behalf of the state. The case was closed on the grounds that those who had committed the premeditated murders of the royal family were dead.
Tsar Nicholas II, his wife, their four daughters and son, and several servants, were shot dead by the Bolsheviks in a basement in the Urals city of Yekaterinburg in the early hours of July 17, 1918. The Romanovs were canonized in 2000, and are buried in St. Petersburg's Peter and Paul Cathedral.
