[JURIST] The Russian Supreme Court [official website, in Russian] ruled Thursday that Tsar Nicholas II [Wikipedia profile] and his family were murdered by Bolshevik revolutionaries in 1918 [eyewitness account], and therefore not eligible for legal rehabilitation. The decision upholds a September determination [JURIST report] by Russia's Prosecutor General [official website, in Russian] which said that the Tsar could not be rehabilitated, as he was not executed following a formal sentencing by a court or "extrajudicial body." The Prosecutor General's office took control of the case in May after several Russian courts also refused to declare the execution a political killing [JURIST report].

Grand Duchess Maria Vladimirovna Romanov [personal website, in Russian], currently living in Spain, has led efforts to exonerate the tsar of Soviet-era criminal charges allegedly brought against him. Romanov's lawyer said that the family will appeal the case to the Presidium of the Supreme Court, Russia's highest legal body, and, if that attempt fails, then to the European Court of Human Rights [official website]. Reuters has more.