The trial has opened in Madrid of a former Argentine officer accused of human rights abuses during the 1976-1983 dictatorship in his native country.
The abuses, allegedly committed in Argentina, include dropping prisoners into the ocean from helicopters.
58-year-old Adolfo Scilingo, who has been on a hunger strike for several weeks, arrived in the courtroom 90 minutes after the trial was due to start, helped by police officers.
Prison sources said yesterday that a doctor had declared him fit to stand trial.
Mr Scilingo is one of several alleged former torturers and killers wanted by foreign courts for the death and disappearance of their citizens during that period.
The naval commander, who went to Spain in 1997, is the first such accused actually to appear before a foreign court.
He is facing 30 charges of murder, 93 of causing injury, 255 of terrorism and 286 of torture. The prosecution has asked for jail sentences totalling 6,626 years.
