Mussolini’s Grandson wants ‘Il Duce’ exhumed

[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

[Klaus]

What's in it for him? It's not that a big secret how he died. What is he trying to prove?

[Jim O]

Evidently he doesn't believe the "official" story.

My questions would be "What difference does it make 60+ years later who killed Il Duce and how?".

[Klaus]

I wasn't aware that the cause of death was in question. Exhuming him doesn't make any sense to me. But than again I'm not Italian

[Jim O]

Perhaps this will clear things up somewhat for Guido:

Footage of Mussolini's death found

ROME, Sept. 8 (UPI) -- Lawyers for Guido Mussolini said footage of the death of his grandfather, dictator Benito Mussolini, has been found in the United States.

The lawyers told a news conference Friday the footage will be in Italy soon, ANSA News Agency reported.

Attorney Luciano Randazzo said the two-and-a-half minute film, kept in Washington as part of a private archive, shows "the last seconds" of the lives of Mussolini and his lover Claretta Petacci, before partisans shot them April 28, 1945. The footage did not make clear who specifically shot Mussolini, ANSA reported.

Randazzo said neither he nor 69-year-old Guido Mussolini had seen the film, but that authorities had described its contents.

Mussolini's death has been the subject of inquiry for decades. His grandson told reporters he thinks historians have produced at least 19 different endings to his grandfather's life.

He has asked the village of Como, near where his grandfather died, to open an inquiry into the sequence of events.

There was no immediate confirmation on the inquiry, but ANSA reported that officials in Como have cited an amnesty issued by the Italian government in 1946, applying to all crimes committed in the war.

Source: United Press International - NewsTrack - Footage of Mussolini's death found