Frenchman cremates frozen parents

Raymond Martinot showed his wife's body to tourists

A Frenchman who fought a long-running legal battle to keep his parents' bodies in a deep-freeze has cremated them after the freezer broke down.

Remy Martinot's parents were frozen soon after their deaths in the hope of bringing them back to life.

A court in January ordered them to be buried or cremated, and Mr Martinot had said he would appeal the decision.

However, they were cremated on 3 March after the crypt where they were kept at -65C heated up to -20C.

"I decided that it was no longer reasonable to carry on," Mr Martinot told the AFP news agency.

"I am no more sad today that at the time my parents died. I have finished mourning," he added.

"But I am bitter that I could not carry out my father's wishes. Maybe the future will show that my father was right and that he was a pioneer."

Court battle

Mr Martinot's father, Raymond, a cryogenics enthusiast, froze his wife after her death in 1984, hoping that one day science might enable her to be revived.

Remy Martinot planned to appeal to keep his parents frozen

He showed off her crypt for a fee in the cellar of his chateau, in the Loire Valley town of Nueil-sur-Layon, to help pay for upkeep of the equipment.

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

In March that year, a court ruled that keeping the bodies refrigerated at the family chateau was against French law.

In January this year, France's highest administrative court, the Council of State, ordered Mr Martinot to either bury or cremate his parents.

He had planned to take his case before the European Court of Human Rights.