Romania: Ceausescu and wife exhumed

Forensic scientists dig up bodies believed to be of ex-dictator, wife.

Nicolae Ceausescu (photo credit: AP)
Nicolae Ceausescu
(photo credit: AP)
BUCHAREST, Romania — Forensic scientists have exhumed what are believed to be the bodies of late Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausescu and his wife Elena at the request of the couple's survivors.
A team of pathologists and cemetery officials Wednesday hoisted the wooden casket of Ceausescu and his wife Elena out of their graves. Officials took samples from the corpses and put them into plastic bags in a process lasting more than two hours.
The family doubts that the Ceausescus were really buried in Bucharest's Ghencea cemetery. Son Valentin Ceausescu tells The Associated Press, "we are closer to knowing the truth."
Ceausescu ruled Romania for 25 years and was ousted and executed during the 1989 anti-communist revolt where more than 1,000 were killed.