[Jim O]

Final moments of Italian fascist dictator’s life have long been controversial

ROME - The grandson of Benito Mussolini has lodged a legal request to exhume the body of Italy’s fascist dictator to find out how “Il Duce” really died, his lawyer told Reuters on Monday.

World War II resistance accounts say Mussolini was executed by a partisan fighter “in the name of the Italian people” after he was captured in April 1945 while fleeing Allied forces with his mistress.

“All lies,” said Luciano Randazzo, Guido Mussolini’s lawyer, in an interview with Reuters. “The real story is not what they told you. ... Absolutely not.”

The accounts name the executioner as the late Walter Audisio, also know by his war name “Colonel Valerio.” They say the execution took place at the gates of a villa overlooking Lake Como in northern Italy.

Randazzo, who said he lodged the request with Como prosecutors on Aug. 27, said that research showed Audisio was not even mentioned as the executioner until two years later.


A family tug of war?

The prospect of an exhumation threatens to provoke a family tug of war. Mussolini’s better-known granddaughter, Alessandra, told Reuters she opposed an exhumation.

“Apart from the fact that we don’t know about this request, it should come unanimously (from Mussolini’s heirs),” the right-wing politician said. She suggested the truth about Mussolini’s fate could come through more historic research.

“My grandfather ... should be left in peace...”

Full article: Grandson wants Mussolini exhumed - Europe - MSNBC.com