'Frozen parents' battle hots up

By Alasdair Sandford
BBC in Paris

The Council of State said the bodies had to be disposed of

A Frenchman is to take a 20-year battle to keep his dead parents in a deep-freeze to the European Court of Human Rights.

His case was recently rejected by France's highest court.

The Council of State ruled Remy Martinot had no right to keep the bodies in the cellar of his chateau in the Loire Valley.

Mr Martinot carried out the wishes of his dead father who hoped he and his wife might be brought back to life.

The Council of State had ordered Mr Martinot to bury or cremate his parents' bodies.

Frozen at death

Remy Martinot's lawyer had argued that French law allowed people to determine how they were buried.

But the Council of State said that although it was a private matter, there could be restrictions if public order and health were threatened.

Mr Martinot's father showed his wife's body to tourists

In 1984 his father Raymond, a cryogenics enthusiast, froze his wife upon her death hoping that one day science might enable her to be resuscitated.

He invited paying visitors to his chateau near Saumur to view the tomb where her body was preserved at minus 60C.

When Raymond died in 2002 his body was in turn frozen by his son.

Remy Martinot has gone to the European Court of Human Rights because he says he cannot see how freezing his parents endangers the public.