Spanish authorities are being asked to investigate allegations that newborn babies were stolen from their mothers and sold to other families for decades.
The call comes as more than 260 alleged victims of a baby-trafficking network begun under the dictator General Francisco Franco started legal action demanding an investigation.
A victim-support group, called Anadir, estimates that thousands of babies were stolen over decades.
They claim the trafficking continued into the mid-1990s.
Anadir’s 41-year-old president, Antonio Barroso, says he found out only about three years ago that the parents who raised him were not his biological parents.
He said he was sold at birth to another family for 200,000 pesetas, about €1,000 in today’s money.
Many were taken away from parents with left-wing sympathies and given to other families.
Enrique Vila, lawyer for the victims' group bringing the case, describes a mafia of doctors and intermediaries he claims was trading children for cash.
The practice of forcibly removing children from their mothers began in the immediate aftermath of the Civil War.
The victims then were largely Republican supporters - including prisoners - whose children were handed to more "ideologically suitable" families.
"This structure, these methods allowed people to see the potential for a business," said Mr Vila. "It all started for political reasons, but in the end it could be any child at all that was targeted."
Agencies