MADRID, Jan. 14 (UPI) -- Ex-Argentine navy officer Adolfo Scilingo went on trial in Spain Friday for crimes relating to Argentina's dictatorship from 1976 to 1983.
The military regime, otherwise known as the "Dirty War," is believed to have claimed some 30,000 lives, Argentines and others, as a way of purging the South American nation of any leftist resistance to the dictatorship.
Spanish Judge Baltasar Garzon brought the indictment against the 58-year-old Scilingo because Spanish citizens were among those killed under the dictatorship, El Pais newspaper reported Friday.
Garzon also tried to prosecute former Chilean dictator Gen. Augusto Pinochet on similar war crimes and human rights abuses.
Friday's trial was halted almost as soon as it got under way as Scilingo -- who has been on a hunger strike since December -- slumped over in his chair and did not answer the judge's questions.
The ex-naval officer has been in jail in Spain since 1997, when he went there to answer official's questions about the Dirty War and was imprisoned.