Doctor stands trial over stolen baby case in Madrid

An elderly gynaecologist, accused of abducting a baby in 1969 and giving her to another woman, went on trial Tuesday in Madrid.

Activists protested outside the court demanding the re-opening of other cases dating back to the 1976-1983 rule of dictator Franco.

A mother of a stolen baby says, "A girl was taken from me in Virgen del Rocio, she was born on May 23, 1977".

A sister of a stolen baby says, "I am looking for a sister who was born on September 20, 1966 in the 'Five wounds hospital'. We never thought that the girl had died. There is no birth certificate or death certificate and there is no name of the doctor who attended my mother at the birth"

Doctor Eduardo Vela is accused of falsifying documents, abduction of a child under seven years of age and staging a birth while he worked at the San Ramon hospital in Madrid.

He denies any wrong-doing.

The Prosecutor asks the 85 year old, "Do you remember, what was the protocol to follow when a woman was admitted to the clinic to give birth?"

Doctor Eduardo Vela replies, "I did not know anything apart from medical matters. I didn't know."

Bringing the charge is Ines Madrigal, a 49-year-old woman who accuses Vela of forging her 1969 birth certificate to show her adopted mother as her biological parent.

Protesters demand justice and campaigners say officials took babies from what they say were "unsuitable" mothers - often communists or leftists and gave them to families connected to the regime.