From: ABlainey@aol.com
Date: Sun Mar 10 2002 - 18:30:38 MST
I'll be watching this one to find out the outcome.
Alex
http://news.excite.com/article/id/113529|oddlyenough|03-09-2002::23:07|reuters
.html
<snip
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.
<end snip
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