As France reels in the aftermath of the Charlie Hebdo attacks last week, coroners grapple with a separate issue—what to do with the bodies of the dead French alleged terrorists.

According to the New York Times, the bodies of three of the men involved in the attack—Amedy Coulibaly, Chérif Kouachi, and Saïd Kouach—are currently in limbo, so to speak.

Their bodies are thought to be in a police morgue in Paris, and the Paris prosecutor, who is in charge of the counterterrorism investigation, has not made any official request to bury them. Nor have the families of the gunmen — some who have condemned their actions — made public how they want to handle the burials.

The U.S. faced similar issues disposing of the body of alleged Boston Marathon bomber Tamerlan Tsarnaev. According to reports, he was eventually quietly buried in a Virginia cemetery, which local officials say caught them "totally off-guard."

Already, the Times reports, officials in several French towns connected to Coulibaly, Kouachi and Kouach have publicly declined to accept their bodies for burial.

"If I'm asked to bury Saïd Kouachi, I will refuse categorically," said Arnaud Robinet, the mayor of Reims, the city in northeastern France where Mr. Kouachi, the elder of the two brothers, had settled several years ago. "I don't want a grave in Reims to become a place of prayer and contemplation for some fanatics."

Still, others have promised to uphold French laws, which offer Muslim burials—even for terrorists—when the family requests one.

"If his family gets in contact with us, we will respect French law," one official told the paper—on condition of anonymity.

[image via AP]