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Inés Madrigal, at the exit of the court said to be "shared" about the verdict and decided to appeal to the Supreme Court. JAVIER SORIANO / AFP

In Spain, the first trial says "stolen babies" does not give rise to any conviction. A gynecologist and midwife, a former clinic director, was found guilty of separating an infant born of his mother to a sterile woman, but was not sentenced. The prosecution had required 11 years of imprisonment, but the magistrates considered that the facts were prescribed.

They were numerous to demonstrate this October 8 before the court on the occasion of this first trial of babies stolen during the Franco period and the verdict leaves them dissatisfied. The crime of which they have been victims has been recognized by the judges, but they are disappointed to see one of the main actors in the trafficking of babies evade a conviction because the facts are prescribed. Facts that are terrible and that concern thousands of newborns.

Eduardo Vela was an obstetrician at the San Ramon Clinic in Madrid under the dictatorship. He was found guilty of separating Ines Madrigal from his biological mother and falsifying his birth certificate in June 1969, to give it to Ines Perez, a sterile woman, with the complicity of a Jesuit priest. Babies were removed from their parents after delivery, declared dead and adopted by infertile couples, preferably close to the "national-Catholic" regime most of the time with the complicity of the Catholic Church.

The traffic continued until 1987. Despite the scale of the scandal, none of the 2,000 complaints filed has so far resulted in a conviction.

Inés Madrigal, who had lodged a complaint against Eduardo Vela accused of separating her from her birth mother and falsifying her birth certificate in June 1969 to give her to a barren woman, said she was " divided ". Madrigal has announced that she will appeal to the Supreme Court. " Obviously, I am happy because it is recognized that Eduardo Vela did everything he did, but I did not think that the judges would stop at the question of prescription, " she said. told the press.