Romania's ex-dictator Nicolae Ceausescu reburied

Ceausescu and his wife were buried hastily after their execution by firing squad in 1989

Romania's ex-dictator Nicolae Ceausescu and his wife Elena have been reburied - nearly five months after their bodies were exhumed to confirm their identity.

They were buried together at Bucharest's Ghencea cemetery on Wednesday evening, Romanian media said.

DNA tests were carried out after the couple's relatives cast doubt that they were buried at the cemetery.

Ceausescu ruled communist Romania for 24 years before being ousted in 1989 and executed alongside his wife .

He and his wife were tried and executed by a military court on Christmas Day after fleeing mass protests in Bucharest.

The execution took place at an army base near the town of Targoviste and the bodies were buried hastily, leaving some to doubt whether the graves in Bucharest really contained their remains.

In November, Dan Dermengiu, head of Romania's legal medicine institute told the Mediafax news agency that the DNA tests had confirmed that the body exhumed in July was that of Nicolae Ceausescu.

He said that in the case of Elena Ceausescu there was not enough material available for a conclusive test.

However, Ceausescu's son Valentin, a 62-year-old nuclear physicist, said at the time he was satisfied that his parents were buried in the graves where the authorities have always claimed they were.

On Thursday, he told the Associated Press that his parents had been reburied in adjacent graves at the cemetery earlier this week.

Vladimir said the burial was secret to avoid "a media circus", adding that his parents were now "in their final resting place".

Ceausescu and his wife were originally buried about 20m (65ft) apart.