Spain's first Franco-era 'stolen babies' trial begins

The first trial in Spain over thousands of suspected cases of babies stolen from their mothers during the Franco era opened in Madrid yesterday as an 85-year-old Spanish doctor appeared in the dock.

About 50 demonstrators protested outside the court as Eduardo Vela, who worked as a gynaecologist at the now-defunct San Ramon clinic in Madrid, arrived in court.

Some carried signs that read "Justice!" and "Human rights for stolen babies."

Vela is accused of having in 1969 taken Ines Madrigal, now aged 49, from her biological mother, and given her to another woman who raised her and was falsely certified as her birth mother.

Prosecutors are seeking an 11-year jail term for falsifying official documents, illegal adoption, unlawful detention and certifying a non-existent birth.

In a dark and often overlooked chapter of General Francisco Franco's 1939-75 dictatorship, the newborns of some left-wing opponents of the regime, or unmarried or poor couples, were removed from their mothers and adopted and the practice was later expanded.

New mothers were frequently told their babies had died suddenly within hours of birth and the hospital had taken care of their burials when in fact they were given or sold to another family.

The practice began after Franco came to power after Spain's 1936-39 civil war pitting left-wing Republicans against conservative Nationalists loyal to the general who was seeking to purge Spain of Marxist influence.

Beginning in the 1950s it was expanded to remove new newborns from poor families as well as illegitimate babies. The guiding principle was that the child would be better off raised by an affluent, conservative and devout Roman Catholic family.

The system outlived Franco's death in 1975 and carried on as an illegal baby trafficking network until 1987 when a new law regulating adoption was introduced.

Campaigners estimate tens of thousands of babies may have been stolen from their parents over the decades.