The presidium of the Russian Supreme Court has ruled that the execution of the Russian royal family was an act of political repression. (In the photo: Zurab Tsereteli's sculpture Ipatiev Night, portraying the murdered royals)
Photo: Ñâåòëàíà Çóåâà
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Court Rehabilitates Imperial Family
After a long string court hearings and rejections by the Prosecutor General’s Office, the presidium of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation ruled yesterday to politically rehabilitate last czar of Russia Nicholas II, his wife and their five children, who were executed by the Bolsheviks in 1918. The court’s presidium reversed a decision by the Supreme Court collegium on criminal cases, which ruled that the execution of the imperial family was a criminal, not political, crime, and therefore the family was not subject to rehabilitation. Supreme Court chief Vyacheslav Lebedev presided over the presidium hearing.
Grand Duchess Maria Vladimirovna first petitioned the Prosecutor General’s Office for the rehabilitation of the imperial family in December 2005. The prosecutor replied that no court decision was ever made in their execution, so the case was not political. On November 14, 2006, the Tverskoi Court in Moscow ruled that the prosecutor’s decision was illegal and should be reconsidered. However, the prosecutor reached the same conclusion upon reconsideration. In conformity with article 8 of the law “On the Rehabilitation of Victims of Political Repression,” the prosecutor’s decision was sent to the criminal case collegium of the Supreme Court.
Yesterday’s decision cannot be appealed. The prosecutor’s office declined to comment on it, but government representative in the Supreme Court Mikhail Varshchevsky stated his disagreement with the decision. “It was a political decision, rather than a legal decision,” he said. Court spokesman Pavel Odintsov referred to “indirect evidence of repression.” The surviving members of the imperial family will not be eligible for material compensation, since only direct descendants of a victim of political repression have the right to receive a pension (ranging from 150 to 1000 rubles per month) and compensation for material losses up to 10,000 rubles. “No one’s going to take the Winter Palace away,” summarized lawyer for the imperial family German Lukyanov.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Oct. 02, 2008
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