Strongmen brought low

WORLD WAR TWO: – Benito Mussolini, Italian fascist dictator from 1922-1945, and his mistress Clara Petacci were executed in April 1945 by a partisan fighter while fleeing Allied forces.

After Mussolini was killed, his corpse was moved to Milan and hanged upside down for public viewing alongside Petacci. – In Germany, days after Mussolini died, Adolf Hitler committed suicide.However, the trial of 22 other top Nazis, including Hermann Goering and Rudolf Hess, began on November 20 1945, in Nuremberg.Twelve were sentenced to death, others to long prison terms.Goering was convicted but killed himself first.* ROMANIA – Following an anti-Communist uprising in the Romanian city of Timisoara, dictator Nicolae Ceausescu and wife Elena were executed after a summary trial in 1989.* FORMER YUGOSLAVIA – Slobodan Milosevic was on trial at the UN war crimes tribunal at the time of his death in March 2006.He had been charged with masterminding ethnic cleansing in the former Yugoslavia.He was also charged with war crimes in Bosnia and with two other indictments relating to the wars in Croatia and Kosovo.Milosevic dismissed the UN war crimes tribunal as a venue for “victor’s justice”.* BOLIVIA – Bolivian strong man Luis Garcia Meza was ousted in a counter-coup after 13 months of strong-arm rule.Jailed in 1995 for 30 years for genocide, torture and murder of political opponents during his 1980-81 regime.* EAST GERMANY – Erich Honecker fell from power in East Germany after 18 years.Extradited to Germany from Moscow, where he fled to escape manslaughter charges linked to deaths of defectors at the Berlin Wall.The trial collapsed in 1993 due to Honecker’s terminal illness.He died in exile in Chile in 1994.* LIBERIA – Charles Taylor, former president of Liberia, was one of Africa’s most feared warlords.Taylor, who fled Liberia in 2003, is in a cell in The Hague awaiting trial for suspected war crimes committed during Sierra Leone’s civil war – though not directly for any crimes in Liberia or Ivory Coast.Nampa-Reuters- In Germany, days after Mussolini died, Adolf Hitler committed suicide.However, the trial of 22 other top Nazis, including Hermann Goering and Rudolf Hess, began on November 20 1945, in Nuremberg.Twelve were sentenced to death, others to long prison terms.Goering was convicted but killed himself first.* ROMANIA – Following an anti-Communist uprising in the Romanian city of Timisoara, dictator Nicolae Ceausescu and wife Elena were executed after a summary trial in 1989.* FORMER YUGOSLAVIA – Slobodan Milosevic was on trial at the UN war crimes tribunal at the time of his death in March 2006.He had been charged with masterminding ethnic cleansing in the former Yugoslavia.He was also charged with war crimes in Bosnia and with two other indictments relating to the wars in Croatia and Kosovo.Milosevic dismissed the UN war crimes tribunal as a venue for “victor’s justice”.* BOLIVIA – Bolivian strong man Luis Garcia Meza was ousted in a counter-coup after 13 months of strong-arm rule.Jailed in 1995 for 30 years for genocide, torture and murder of political opponents during his 1980-81 regime.* EAST GERMANY – Erich Honecker fell from power in East Germany after 18 years.Extradited to Germany from Moscow, where he fled to escape manslaughter charges linked to deaths of defectors at the Berlin Wall.The trial collapsed in 1993 due to Honecker’s terminal illness.He died in exile in Chile in 1994.* LIBERIA – Charles Taylor, former president of Liberia, was one of Africa’s most feared warlords.Taylor, who fled Liberia in 2003, is in a cell in The Hague awaiting trial for suspected war crimes committed during Sierra Leone’s civil war – though not directly for any crimes in Liberia or Ivory Coast.Nampa-Reuters