MOSCOW -- Russian Orthodox Church experts are looking into the life and death of Russia's last tsar to decide whether he deserves to be canonized, a top church leader said Tuesday.


"At present we are investigating the life, and especially the death, of Tsar Nicholas II, to decide whether it meets canonization requirements,'' said Metropolitan Yuvenaly, who is in charge of a commission that proposes candidates for canonization.


Research so far "has given no grounds nor revealed any obstacles'' for canonization, according to a recent meeting of church leaders, Yuvenaly told The Associated Press.


After Nicholas II abdicated in 1917, he and his family were held as prisoners outside St. Petersburg, known at the time as Petrograd.


Later, Bolshevik leaders moved them to the Ural Mountains city of Yekaterinburg, where they were herded into a basement and killed on the night of July 16-17, 1918.


Their remains were discovered in a pit outside Yekaterinburg in 1991, and forensic experts identified them as the tsar, his wife and three daughters.


Experts have been reading diaries written by Nicholas and the memoirs of his contemporaries to see whether he adhered to high Orthodox principles during his lifetime, and whether his death could be described as martyrdom in the name of the faith, Yuvenaly said.


It is too early to say whether the canonization, if it happens at all, will happen before the remains of Nicholas and his family are reburied in St. Petersburg.


The interment, tentatively scheduled for March 5, will take place in the Peter and Paul Cathedral, the resting place of every Russian tsar since Peter the Great.