Prosecution raises stolen baby cases to the pre-procedure phase

CAMPO DE GIBRALTAR (Agencies) The Public Prosecutor (Fiscalía) for the Campo de Gibraltar is following up on the process begun several months ago, when the first case of stolen babies arose in the area. Having studied all the considerable amount of documentation, the next step is the pre-trial phase, local judicial sources confirmed. These also pointed out that this part of the process will be 'slow' and 'very complex', mainly because of the time passed since the days of the Franco dictatorship, when most of the cases supposedly happened.>On a recent visit to the area, the Government's Delegate for Andalucía, Luis Garrido García, praised the work being caried out by the Prosecutor as well as the various police forces that are trying to elucidate these cases. He said, "it is a chapter in our history that is insufficiently clear. These cases are painfully close to the family and personal tragedies of many mothers that have come to light." Garrido was unequivocal:>"This social injustice cannot be allowed to pass," he said he hoped that "we are capable of locating those children that were separated from their mothers, who lost their memories and their surnames." He added also that he hoped "the full weight of the law would fall on those who may have collaborated in this perversion.">The first case in the Campo came about in La Línea, later in Algeciras. There have been suspicions for years, but many of the parents of the stolen babies were at least partially illiterate, and certainly unwilling to 'rock the boat' in the days when, for instance, you could be locked up for a long time merely for contradicting someone in authority.

The most common thread among all the cases, including those of other parts of Spain, is that the parents were told by a doctor or nurse (in many cases nuns and priests, too) shortly after a birth that the baby had died. But the parents were never able to see the body, as the hospitals, clinics or nursing homes 'took care of everything including the burial' (there is testimony in at least one case of a funeral director filling a baby-sized coffin with stones).

These cases happened at civil, private hospitals from the 1950s to the 70s, whereas more recent cases from the 1980s occurred within the health service of Andalucía (SAS). The Ombudsman for Andalucía (defensor del Pueblo Andaluz), José Chamizo, announced that his department had opened an investigation into the cases, as well.

 

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