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| Russia's last tsar rehabilitated | Russia's last tsar rehabilitated |
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| Russia's Supreme Court has ruled that the last Tsar, Nicholas II, and his family were victims of political repression and should be rehabilitated. | Russia's Supreme Court has ruled that the last Tsar, Nicholas II, and his family were victims of political repression and should be rehabilitated. |
| The rehabilitation has long been demanded by the tsar's descendants. | The rehabilitation has long been demanded by the tsar's descendants. |
| Nicholas, his wife Alexandra, their five children, doctor and three servants were shot dead by Bolshevik revolutionaries in July, 1918. | Nicholas, his wife Alexandra, their five children, doctor and three servants were shot dead by Bolshevik revolutionaries in July, 1918. |
| Lower courts had previously refused to reclassify the killings, which had been categorised as simply murder. | Lower courts had previously refused to reclassify the killings, which had been categorised as simply murder. |
| The Romanov family have been canonised as saints by the Orthodox Church, which has enjoyed a post-Soviet revival. | The Romanov family have been canonised as saints by the Orthodox Church, which has enjoyed a post-Soviet revival. |
| For most of the last century, Tsar Nicholas II was officially reviled as a tyrant. To Russia's Soviet regime, he personified all they had tried to destroy in the revolution of 1917. | For most of the last century, Tsar Nicholas II was officially reviled as a tyrant. To Russia's Soviet regime, he personified all they had tried to destroy in the revolution of 1917. |
| The Romanovs were shot by a firing squad without a trial, in the Urals city of Yekaterinburg. | |
| The Supreme Court "declared as groundless the repression of Tsar Nicholas II and his family and ordered their rehabilitation", the judge's decision said on Wednesday. | |
| The ruling overturned a decision by a Supreme Court panel in November 2007 not to rehabilitate the imperial family. | |
| The descendants' lawyer, German Lukyanov, argued that the lack of a trial was not sufficient grounds to reject the plea that they be considered victims of political repression. | |
| Coercion by state bodies, restricting the freedom and rights of citizens for class, religious or social reasons, constituted repression, he told the court. |