Frozen bodies ruling delayed

Authorities in the western French town of Saumur had asked a court on Friday to order the removal of the frozen bodies of a French couple from their resting place in a cellar on their estate.

Dr Raymond Martinot, who believed advances in medical science would one day enable the frozen dead to be brought back to life, had his wife's body frozen after she died of cancer in 1984.

The biologist himself was frozen on his instructions by his son Remi when he died last month. The bodies are being kept in a special refrigerated chamber in the couple's mansion in Nueil-sur-Layon.

Under French law, bodies must either be cremated or buried.

Constant temperature

The court is being asked to consider whether freezing a body amounts to the same thing as burying it, and whether Remi committed an offence when he carried out his father's instructions.

His lawyer, Alain Fouquet, argues that keeping the bodies frozen in the cellar of the mansion does not contradict the existing laws on interment, and points out that nothing has changed legally since Dr Martinot was granted permission to freeze his wife in 1984.

The Saumur authorities however insist that putting a body in a fridge cannot be considered a burial, and are hoping for an order enabling them to defrost the couple.

Dr Martinot became a much celebrated name in the world of cryogenics - the freezing of bodies for possible revival at a later date - after successfully freezing his wife

He is said to have frequently showed visitors the place where he kept his wife's body, a cellar which is now locked with a golden chain.

The cellar is kept at a constant temperature of minus 60 degrees Celsius (minus 76 degrees Fahrenheit).

Legal hurdles

It is not the first time the practice of freezing dead bodies has come before French judges.

Less than two years ago, a court rejected an attempt by a brother and sister on the island of Reunion, which is French territory, to keep their dead mother's body refrigerated at home.

The pair had wanted to keep her in a glass-topped freezer in the cellar.

Many European countries have legislation in place restricting the preservation of dead bodies in such a way.

To circumvent such restrictions, those interested in resuming life at a later date have come to an arrangement with cryogenics companies in the United States, where it is permitted in several states.