Madrid - A trial began in Spain on Tuesday of three military officers accused of falsely identifying 30 of the 75 victims of the worst air crash in the history of Spanish peacekeeping missions in May 2003.

The Yakolev 42 was en route from Afghanistan to Spain when it crashed in Turkey, killing the 62 peacekeepers and 13 mainly Ukrainian crew on board.

Thirty Spanish families were given the wrong bodies, which were exhumed later on for their correct identification.

Prosecution was requesting up to five years in prison for a general, a commander and a captain who had been charged with overseeing the identification and repatriation of the bodies.

The National Court was criticized for not calling as witness then defence minister Federico Trillo, who was accused of not sending a forensic expert to Turkey and who ordered the bodies to be sent home as soon as possible.

Defence lawyers were expected to blame the identification problems on the Turkish authorities.

The air crash raised questions about the security of Russian-made military aircraft and weakened then prime minister Jose Maria Aznar's conservative government. (dpa)