Head of the Romanov house Maria Vladimirovna asked the Russian Prosecutor General to rehabilitate imperial family members shot in 1918 in Perm and Alapaevsk. They were victims of political repression.

The head of the House of Romanov, Grand Duchess Maria Vladimirovna, is asking for an assessment of the shootings of members of the imperial family. She has appealed to the Prosecutor General’s Office of the Russian Federation with a request to rehabilitate members of the imperial family who were shot in 1918 in Perm and Alapaevsk. The Supreme Court already rehabilitated Nicholas II and his family six months ago, and now the imperial house is seeking the rehabilitation of the other Romanovs shot by the Bolsheviks as well.
This concerns the brother of the last Russian emperor Nicholas II, Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich, who was shot in Perm on June 13, 1918, as well as Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna, the empress’s sister; Grand Duke Sergei Mikhailovich, a grandson of Nicholas I; and the great-grandsons of Nicholas I, Princes Ioann, Konstantin, and Igor, who were thrown into a mine shaft in Alapaevsk on July 18, 1918.
– Grand Duchess Maria Vladimirovna is convinced that all the specified members of the Russian imperial house became victims of political repression solely because they belonged to the House of Romanov,— commented Alexander Zakatov, director of the chancery of the Russian imperial house.— In our view, rehabilitation is needed not only for the House of Romanov, but also for the state. The Russian authorities must show that they recognize and condemn the crimes of Soviet power.
Romanov House lawyer German Lukyanov stated: “Maria Vladimirovna believes that all the specified members of the Russian imperial house became victims of the arbitrariness of a totalitarian state and were subjected to political repression on social, class, and religious grounds.”
Some Russian experts deny the possibility of rehabilitation: “One cannot rehabilitate someone who was not convicted,— says the representative of the Russian government in the higher courts, Mikhail Barschevsky.— Members of the tsar’s family were shot without a verdict, so this is a criminal murder, not a political one.”
Meanwhile, Grand Duchess Maria Vladimirovna has documents indicating that the grand dukes were subjected precisely to political repression. Among them are a notice from the FSB of the Russian Federation stating that Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich was shot on June 13, 1918, in Perm, and a death certificate for Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich, in which the cause of death is listed as
Human rights advocates do not share Barschevsky’s view: “Without question, members of the tsar’s family must be rehabilitated,— said Lev Ponomarev, executive director of the movement For Human Rights.— But their rehabilitation will depend solely on the will of the Kremlin, which is now difficult to predict.”
– Maria Vladimirovna believes that justice must prevail and that the good name of the Romanov dynasty must be restored, - noted the Romanov House lawyer. In his opinion, the state should provide a legal assessment of what happened. At the same time, Lukyanov said that if the Prosecutor General’s Office refuses, the imperial house intends to appeal the decision in all possible judicial instances “no matter how long it takes.”
To achieve the rehabilitation of the last Russian emperor Nicholas II and six members of his family, the lawyers needed almost three years. Only on October 1, 2008, did the Presidium of the Supreme Court of Russia make the corresponding decision.
Representatives of the Russian imperial house decided not to limit themselves to the rehabilitation of only members of the imperial family; they have already begun preparing documents for the rehabilitation of the servants who died together with Nicholas II.