BUENOS AIRES, Nov 28 (Reuters) - Ex-Argentine President Carlos Menem participated via videoconference on Friday in an ongoing trial over weapons smuggling to Ecuador and Croatia when arms embargoes were in place in the 1990s.

Menem, 78, was unable to attend hearings in Buenos Aires due to health problems. So the court allowed him to take part remotely from his native La Rioja province.

The trial opened last month after years of delays and is being nationally televised. If convicted, Menem faces up to 10 years in prison, but he likely would serve out his term under house arrest due to his age.

He is charged with having signed presidential decrees authorizing weapons sales to Venezuela and Panama, knowing those arms would end up in Ecuador and Croatia.

Argentina was barred from supplying Ecuador with weapons since it played a peace-keeping role after Ecuador and Peru fought a brief war in 1995. Arms sales to Croatia were internationally banned during the wars that tore apart the former Yugoslavia from 1991 to 1995.

Menem, who is on trial along with 17 other former government officials, has denied knowing the final destination of the weapons. They included anti-tank missiles, hand grenades, land mines and rockets, court documents say.

Now a senator, the flamboyant leader governed Argentina from 1989 to 1999, pushing free-market reforms that later fell out of favor.

He was known for courting celebrities and he married a former Miss Universe half his age after leaving office.

Members of his administration have been charged with corruption, and Menem was placed under house arrest for nearly five months in 2001 as part of the arms smuggling probe.

The trial is expected to last six months and will include testimony from more than 400 witnesses, according to Ricardo Monner Sans, the leading plaintiff in the case. (Reporting by Karina Grazina; Writing by Hilary Burke; Editing by Xavier Briand)

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