Speaker of the Seimas: ‘Our path to defend our freedom is based on determination and humanity’

Press release, 13 January 2024 

Viktorija Čmilytė-Nielsen, Speaker of the Seimas, says that by annually lighting bonfires to commemorate the Day of the Defenders of Freedom, we not only pay tribute to the victims of 13 January 1991, but also remind ourselves of the path of our freedom and of how much determination and humanity we had back then and have today.

‘National sovereignty can neither be granted nor abolished, it can only be violated or restored,’ says the Memorandum of Forty-Five Baltic Nationals of 23 August 1979, which calls for the elimination of the effects of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact.

This is one of the most striking legacies of the struggle for freedom, which influenced the governments of the signatories to the Helsinki Final Act and the United Nations, and later the European Parliament, which, after a lengthy debate, adopted a resolution of 13 January 1983, confirming that the sovereignty of the occupied Baltic States had not been, and could not be, renounced from the point of view of international law.

Every year, when we commemorate the Day of the Defenders of Freedom, when we ignite the bonfires that bring back memories of the past, we can see each time the path we have taken towards liberation and the ways in which we have kept to be free.

The Lithuanian Reform Movement Sąjūdis, formed in the late 1980s, which led to independence, continued the tradition of moderation and humane objectives that, according to cultural historian Vytautas Kavolis, was typical of all Lithuanian uprisings.

‘The path of our liberation has been to appreciate humanity as well as to refrain from becoming too radical and from indulging in the kind of brutal cruelty that Russia is once again demonstrating today. As the bullets were whistling on 13 January 1991, people ran towards the gunmen rather than away from them. The defenders of the buildings talked to the soldiers trying to persuade them to refrain from violence by appealing to their humanity. We have preserved, and must continue to do so, not only the determination to defend ourselves, but also the ability to keep our common sense.

As we commemorate the 13th of January, we will always remember that we achieved our goal on the path towards freedom also thanks to the efforts of international institutions such as the European Parliament, and to the dedicated efforts of freedom workers such as Petras Plumpa, to whom the Freedom Prize will be awarded today, and, unequivocally, it is thanks to the defenders of freedom and those who sacrificed their lives on 13 January 1991. Everlasting respect to them,’ says Ms Čmilytė-Nielsen.

Photo by Olga Posaškova, Office of the Seimas

Ilona Petrovė, Spokesperson for Viktorija Čmilytė-Nielsen, Speaker of the Seimas, tel.+370 5 239 6030, mob. +370 698 42071, e-mail: [email protected], www.lrs.lt