Ivan Artsyshevsky said the proceedings, initiated by Grand Duchess Maria Vladimirovna Romanov, were a publicity stunt, and that there was no real need to exonerate Russia's last monarch as a repression victim now that he had been recognized a holy martyr and canonized.
Maria Vladimirovna requested the Russian Prosecutor General's Office that Nicholas II and his immediate family, who had been killed in 1918 under a Bolshevik government resolution, be recognized as repression victims and cleared of all charges brought against them.
The prosecutors rejected the request, saying there was no credible evidence to prove Nicholas II's killing had been an execution, not a murder.
Maria Vladimirovna, a granddaughter of Nicholas II's cousin Kirill Vladimirovich, claims to be the head of the Romanov Imperial House in exile. Most of the Romanov Family Association's members, however, contest her claim, regarding Prince Nikolai Romanovich as the legitimate head.
The remains of Nicholas II, killed 1918 outside the Urals city of Yekaterinburg, were buried in 1998 with honors in the former imperial capital, St. Petersburg. The Russian Orthodox Church canonized him two years later.
