100,000 Russians mark 100 years since murder of last tsar

Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill led some 100,000 people in a nightime procession marking 100 years since the Bolsheviks shot dead tsar Nicholas II and his family after he abdicated, authorities said today.

The powerful church leader led the procession that began in the early hours today from the murder site to a monastery commemorating the victims outside the city of Yekaterinburg just east of the Ural mountains.

Another 20,000 people joined the commemorations when the procession arrived at the monastery in Ganina Yama after covering the distance of 21 km.

The monastery was built to honour the site where the burnt bodies of the last Russian tsar and his family were thrown after their execution in the aftermath of the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution, regional authorities said.

The Bolsheviks shot the abdicated tsar, his German-born wife and their five children along with their servants and doctor on the night from July 16 to 17, 1918 as they were living under guard in the Urals city of Sverdlovsk, now Yekaterinburg.

Addressing the pilgrims, Patriarch Kirill said Russia should draw lessons "from this difficult and bitter experience."