Former Italian Prime Minister Giulio Andreotti died at 94

Giulio Andreotti, the former Italian Prime Minister died on 6 May 2013 at the age of 94 in Rome. He was one of the most powerful figures in the politics of the country after World War II. In the last days of his life, he suffered from respiratory and heart problems.  

About Giulio Andreotti
• He was born on 14 January 1919 to a schoolteacher parents in Rome
• He started his political career in Italian Parliament in 1946 and remained active for more than six decades, before turning up a senator for life
• He was a member of the Christian Democratic Party and served as the Prime Minister of Italy seven times between 1972 to 1992.
• In the last years of his political career he suffered allegations of corruption and mafia links.
• He met pope for the first time at the age of eight after sneaking away from the a Vatican tour group
• Became a junior minister at the age of 28
• He was a pro-European, who was committed towards European integration to help in forging the way forward to a single currency
• He was one of the most prominent faces of the Years of Lead in Italy, the time during 1970s and 1980s when several people were killed in Political violence (Years of Lead was a period of socio-political disorder in Italy)
• He was accused of sharing a Kiss of Honour with the Mafia boss of the time Toto Riina in a secret meeting in 1987, who was captured in 1993.
• An appeals Court sentenced him to 24 years in Prison for cultivating a relationship with Mafia bosses in November 2002