The trial of an 85-year-old retired Spanish doctor, for allegedly stealing a baby from its mother and giving it to another family, entered its second day on Wednesday. But the courtroom proceedings were temporarily suspended, as the defendant was in a hospital emergency room.  The trial is the first to put a defendant on the stand in Spain for "stolen babies". Experts say the practice during the Franco dictatorship affected thousands of infants. Al Goodman reports. 

The first trial over "stolen babies" in Spain is about Ines Madrigal. She's 49 years and says she was stolen at birth from her real mother and secretly given to another family. All of that, right in the hospital. Supervised by a doctor, she says. Many experts say it was widespread, affecting thousands of Spanish babies, born to so-called "unsuitable" mothers – often leftists, seen as a threat to the former right-wing dictator Francisco Franco.

The defendant is Eduardo Vela. He's 85, a retired gynecologist and former director of a hospital where some babies allegedly were stolen. In court, he testified that he knew nothing about these allegations. Contradicting his earlier statements to investigators about his signature on a forged birth certificate.

On the second day of the trial, Vela's lawyer said he was suddenly ill, and went to a hospital emergency room. As reporters looked on, the judges delayed the court hearings, but Ines Madrigal says it shouldn't stop the main goal of the lawsuit.

INES MADRIGAL PLAINTIFF, FIRST "STOLEN BABIES" CASE  "I hope this trial will be a turning point for the thousands of victims and that there will be a new law about stolen babies, allowing for research and for biological families to be reunited."

She says she's not asking for financial compensation or for the elderly defendant to be jailed, just a recognition of the truth.

AL GOODMAN MADRID "But the former doctor faces up to 11 years in prison if convicted of unlawful detention and falsifying documents. A verdict is expected this summer."

Outside the courthouse, protesters demanded justice. Some estimates put the number of stolen babies under the Franco regime at tens of thousands. For ideological reasons, but in some cases, simply to make money selling them. This lawyer for Ines Madrigal says there are more than 140 others cases pending over stolen baby allegations, many with elderly defendants. A case a few years ago accused an elderly Roman Catholic nun of involvement in the thefts, but she died before the trial began.

GUILLERMO PENA  LAWYER, "STOLEN BABIES" CASE "But in other cases all across Spain, there are other doctors who are accused and who are not quite as old, and who are in good enough condition to appear in court."

When these other cases proceed is a question. But observers say Spain is trying to come to terms with dark moments from its past, and that's a push unlikely to be halted. Al Goodman, CGTN, Madrid.