Spain begins first ‘stolen babies’ trial

TENS OF THOUSANDS MAY HAVE BEEN TAKEN FROM PARENTS OVER DECADES

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-yearold Spanish doctor appeared in the dock.

About 50 demonstrators protested outside the court as Eduardo Vela, who worked as a gynaecologist at the nowdefunct 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.

Jail term sought

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.

‘Mother can never forget’

Madrigal, a railway worker who heads the Murcia branch of the SOS Stolen Babies association, said she did not expect Vela would provide answers about her origins or apologise.

But she hoped his two-day trial would mark a turning point that leads the authorities to reopen investigations into other “stolen babies” cases. “A mother can never forget her son,” she told reporters outside the court.

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