Giacomo Matteotti, Italian lawyer and politician (b. 1885)
Giacomo Matteotti (Italian pronunciation: [ˈdʒaːkomo matteˈɔtti]; 22 May 1885 – 10 June 1924) was an Italian socialist politician. On 30 May 1924, he openly spoke in the Italian Parliament alleging the Fascists committed fraud in the recently held elections, and denounced the violence they used to gain votes. Eleven days later he was kidnapped and killed by Fascists. The presumed fraud in the 1924 elections (however won by PNF thanks to the Acerbo Law, ad-hoc made in order to make the Party win) was not the only cause of his murder. In fact, according to Renzo De Felice's essay Breve Storia del Fascismo, Matteotti also publicly condemned the alliance of the socialist trade unions and the fascist counterpart. Yet, the most important aspect, and probably the main reason for his murder, was that he found out the evidence of bribes from Sinclair Oil in favour to Mussolini, in order to get permission for the petroleum reservoir exploitation in North Africa.