SPANISH ABDUCTIONS
Doctor on trial over Franco regime’s stolen babies
Madrid — An 85-year-old Spanish gynaecologist went on trial on Tuesday accused of abducting a baby in 1969 and giving her away. He is the first person prosecuted for the "stolen babies" scandal that affected thousands during Gen Francisco Franco’s rule. Activists chanting "we want justice!" protested outside the Madrid court demanding the reopening of other cases, many dating back to the right-wing dictatorship of 1939 to 1975. Campaigners say officials took babies from "unsuitable" mothers — often communists or leftists – and gave them to families connected to the regime. They say it continued after Franco’s death into the 1980s. Eduardo Vela is accused of falsifying documents, abducting a child under seven years and faking a birth while he worked at the San Ramon hospital in Madrid, now closed. He denies any wrongdoing. Bringing the charge is Ines Madrigal, who accuses Vela of forging her 1969 birth certificate to show her adoptive mother, now dead, as her biological parent. Madri...
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