Grandson wants Mussolini's body exhumed

A grandson of Italian wartime dictator Benito Mussolini has requested that the Fascist leader’s body be exhumed, a lawyer said today.

Guido Mussolini, the son of the dictator’s son Vittorio, wants to shed light on the circumstances that led to his grandfather’s death, said Mussolini’s lawyer, Luciano Randazzo.

“We have filed a request aimed at ascertaining the cause for the death of Benito Mussolini,” he said.

“We have asked that the body be exhumed, but what we would find after 60 years remains to be seen.”

The request was filed to prosecutors in northern Italy late last month.

It likely would take months before they decide on whether or not to grant the exhumation, said the lawyer.

Mussolini and his mistress, Claretta Petacci, were shot by partisans on April 28, 1945, as they were trying to flee Italy.

Their bodies were hanged for display the next day in Milan.

However, the details of the dictator’s demise are often a matter of debate in Italy.

According to an account by Urbano Lazzaro, the resistance fighter credited with arresting Mussolini, the dictator was killed by mistake during an escape attempt.