Ceausescu was also known for the ruthless way in which he stifled dissent. His Securitate secret police were believed to have 700,000 informers in the Balkan nation of 22 million.

Authorities have exhumed, Wednesday, July 21, 2010 the bodies of Ceausescu and his wife at the request of the family to perform DNA testing in order to confirm their identity. (AP Photo/Keiichi ...

BUCHAREST, Romania - The mystery of where former Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausescu and his wife, Elena, were buried moved closer to resolution Wednesday after forensic scientists dug up their ...

Nicolae Ceausescu ruled Romania for 25 years with an iron fist before being ousted and executed during the 1989 anti-communist revolt in which more than 1,000 people were killed.

The graves of Romania's former communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu and his wife Elena were dug up today to check whether they… The graves of Romania's former communist dictator Nicolae ...

By the end of the day, one theory had been ruled out. “There weren’t empty graves, there were bodies,” Valentin Ceausescu, the couple’s 62-year-old son, told The Associated Press.

"There weren't empty graves, there were bodies," Valentin Ceausescu, the couple's 62-year-old son, told The Associated Press. He declined to participate in the exhumation.

Ceausescu's alleged remains were better preserved than those of his wife, said Mircea Oprean, the couple's son-in-law who was present at the exhumation.

Ceausescu was toppled Dec. 22, 1989, as Romanians fed up with years of draconian rationing and communist rule revolted. He tried to flee Bucharest by helicopter but his pilot switched sides.

BUCHAREST, Romania -- The mystery of where former Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausescu and his wife Elena were buried moved closer to resolution Wednesday after forensic scientists dug up their ...

BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — Taking the country by surprise, forensic scientists on Wednesday exhumed what are believed to be the bodies of Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausescu and his wife Elena ...