X-Message-Number: 18757 Date: Mon, 11 Mar 2002 03:01:03 -0500 (EST) From: "Keith F. Lynch" <> Subject: Cryonics case in France Court Told to Order Burial of Frozen Parents Sat Mar 9,11:08 PM ET SAUMUR, France (Reuters) - A French local authority asked a court on Friday to order a man to bury his parents' corpses, which lie frozen in a crypt at his family's chateau. Remy Martinot's father, Raymond, froze his wife's body when she died in 1984 aged 49, believing scientific developments would one day allow her to be brought back to life. He asked that the same be done with his corpse when he died. "I respected my father's last wishes," Martinot told the court. "At his death, at the end of February, he wished to be frozen close to her (his wife), and that's what I did. A man's last wish is a sacred thing." Raymond Martinot, who died in February, was a doctor and biologist who believed scientific developments would one day allow a body, preserved at a constant temperature of -60 degrees Celsius, to be brought back to life. He wrote instructions on the wall of the crypt detailing the procedure for resurrecting his wife, Monique, and also expressing his wish to be frozen after his own death. The crypt at the chateau in the village of Nueil-sur-Layon, near Saumur in western France, became something of a tourist attraction, with a travel agency obtaining exclusive rights for visits to the crypt for four euros ($3.50) per person. But after he froze his father's body next to his mother's, the prefecture of the Maine-et-Loire region around Saumur asked Martinot to bury their bodies, saying French law allows only the burial or cremation of corpses. Martinot has so far refused to bury the bodies. The court's magistrates heard evidence from both sides, before withdrawing to consider the case. They will give their ruling on March 13. -- Keith F. Lynch - - http://keithlynch.net/ I always welcome replies to my e-mail, postings, and web pages, but unsolicited bulk e-mail (spam) is not acceptable. Please do not send me HTML, "rich text," or attachments, as all such email is discarded unread. Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=18757