Nicholas II: Russian Emperor’s 1918 Murder Case Reopened
The murder case of Russian Emperor Nicholas II and his family has been reopened. On Wednesday, spokesperson Vladimir Markin of Russia’s Investigative Committee announced the exhumation plan and the committee’s intent to resume the investigation of the death of members of the Romanov family — the last Russian tsar, and four members of the family’s entourage.
In 1918, Nicholas II, his wife Alexandra, and their five children were executed as White Army forces closed in on the Bolsheviks holding them prisoner.
The Guardian says Tsar Nicholas II abdicated the throne in 1917 and was held by the Bolsheviks after his cousin George V, Queen Elizabeth II’s grandfather, refused him asylum in Britain over political concerns.
Nicholas II, his family and four attendants were executed by a firing squad in the early hours of July 17, 1918 at a house in Yekaterinburg, and their bodies were thrown into a mine shaft.
However, the Bolsheviks later removed the remains, burned them, corroded them with acid and reburied them in an unknown location.
For the next eight decades, rumors persisted that Princess Anastasia or other family members had survived.
A grave with nine bodies was found on Staraya Koptyakovskaya Road near Ekaterinburg in July 1991.
The remains were identified as those of Emperor Nicholas II, his 46-year-old wife Alexandra Feodorovna, their daughters Olga, 22, Tatiana, 21, and Anastasia, 17, and their servants Evgeny Botkin, 53, Anna Demidova, 40, Alexei Trupp, 62, and Ivan Kharitonov, 48.
Remains identified as Nicholas II, Alexandra, and three of their children were placed in a tomb in 1998.
In 2007, the body parts identified as those of Czarevich Alexei and his sister were found. Russia had announced burial plans this month, however, the Russian Orthodox Church called for further investigation, according to a report by the Associated Press. The church does not consider the other remains authentic.
Interfax News in Moscow reports a comment by Vladimir Markin.
“The leadership of the Investigative Committee has decided to resume the preliminary investigation to conduct additional studies and investigative steps.”
German Lukyanov, lawyer of the House of Romanov, told Interfax on Wednesday about the importance of this investigation of the death of Nicholas II and his family.
“The resumption of the preliminary investigation of the criminal case of the death of members of the royal family is a landmark event of our time. [The investigation] indicates that not all questions raised by the Russian Orthodox Church have been answered and that not all circumstances of the case were established.”
Lukyanov cited the added support of the House of Romanov.
“Head of the House of Romanov Grand Duchess Maria Vladimirovna supports the resumption of the investigation and insists that all questions asked by the church would be given full and clear answers in the course of the preliminary investigation and that studies be of scientific nature.”
Vladimir Solovyov, the senior investigator-criminalist at the Main Criminalistics Department of Russia’s Investigative Committee, who was investigating the case of the royal family’s murder, told Interfax new genetic studies in the case of the Russian royal family would begin on September 24.
Solovyov offered the following comment about the steps that will be enforced in the upcoming studies.
“The studies will start tomorrow [on Thursday]. I think that the new genetic studies will take approximately one month or a month and half.”
Solovyov added that the samples of the remains of Nicholas II and wife Alexandra, as well as the samples of the clothes of Emperor Alexander II were taken as part of new genetic tests in the murder case of the last Russian imperial family in St. Petersburg.
On Wednesday, Solovyov participated in the exhumation of the remains at the Romanov’s royal sepulcher in St. Petersburg.
Solovyov briefly explained what took place in obtaining DNA samples.
“The samples were taken from the remains of Nicholas II and Alexandra at the Peter and Paul Fortress as well as the samples of Alexander II’s clothes. The best specialists in the world are working.”
The entire scope of research will take place in Russia, according to Solovyov.
The Russian Orthodox Church is adamant that the remains in the tomb in Peter and Paul Cathedral are not those of Nicholas II and his family members and entourage.
Head of State Archives and member of the government-working group Sergey Mironenko offered confirmation to Interfax that the supposed remains of Nicholas II and his family are in fact, authentic.
“Questions of a genetic study are being raised. The [Russian Orthodox] Church had certain doubts. The Church asked for additional studies. All experts that conducted the previous genetic studies unequivocally concluded that the remains were authentic.”
These new genetic studies of the murder of Nicholas II, his family, and servants are expected to last four to six weeks at minimum.
[Featured image via Wikipedia]
