Speaker of the Seimas expresses her condolences over the death of Sergei Kovalev, human rights activist and supporter of the restoration of independence of Lithuania

Press release, 12 August 2021

The Speaker of the Seimas, Viktorija Čmilytė-Nielsen, on behalf of the Seimas and on her own behalf, expresses her sincere sympathy with the family, relatives, colleagues and fellow activists of Doctor of Biology and geneticist Sergei Kovalev as a Soviet Union dissident, political prisoner, human rights defender, and supporter of the independence of the Baltic States, deceased in Moscow.

‘We will sorely miss Sergei Kovalev, one of the world’s most famous human rights defenders who has consistently supported the Lithuanian freedom fighters, cooperated with the dissidents of our country while it was occupied by the USSR, and helped to distribute the underground publication Chronicle of the Catholic Church in Lithuania in the West. When the Soviet Union started crumbling, he bravely advocated for the restoration of independence of the Baltic States, backed the Lithuanian cause on 11 March 1990, and also supported Lithuania in the blood-stained year 1991,’ says the Speaker of the Seimas expressing her condolences to his family, relatives, colleagues and fellow activists across the world.

Kovalev was awarded the commemorative medal of January 13 in 1992, received the Grand Cross of the Order of the Lithuanian Grand Duke Gediminas in 1999, and became the first winner of the Freedom Prize established by the Seimas in 2011.

Ilona Petrovė, Spokesperson of Viktorija Čmilytė-Nielsen, Speaker of the Seimas,

tel. + 370 5 239 6030, mob. + 370 698 42 071, e-mail: [email protected]