“Appointing the Seimas Award – Aleksandrs Stulginskis Star – to Lithuanian long-time member of the Seimas, former Speaker of the Seimas I. Degutiena, and defender of democracy, dissident nun FNSadūnaite, would be sincere respect and thanks for the great efforts and merits of these outstanding women,” says Antanas Vinkus, chairman of the award commission.
The report notes that while holding various positions in the Seimas and the Government, I. Degutienė was guided by the principles of tolerance, democracy and political culture – she took into account the rights of the minority, respected opponents, giving them the opportunity to present their opinion and listen to it, and sought dialogue in complex political discussions.
“I. Degutienė was and still is a supporter and nurturer of parliamentary democracy. And these days, although she has retired from active political activity, she expresses a bold and reasoned position on issues of concern to the public,” the report said.
Among the merits of N. Sadūnaitė, it is noted that the dissident was a defender of the rights of believers, a political prisoner, a collaborator and distributor of the “Lietuvos Katalikų Bažnyčias Kronikas”, one of the organizers of the unauthorized rally on August 23, 1987 at the Adam Mickevičius monument in Vilnius.
N. Sadūnaitė came to the attention of the Soviet security in 1970 for defending priests persecuted by the authorities. In 1971, she secretly transported to Moscow and handed over to diplomats of foreign countries a memorandum of the Lithuanian people regarding restrictions on freedom of conscience in Soviet Lithuania.
In 1974, she began to reproduce and distribute an underground publication – “Chronicle of the Lithuanian Catholic Church”, for which she was arrested in the same year and sentenced to three years of hard labor in prison and three years of exile. After serving her sentence, she returned to Lithuania and once more got involved in underground activities. During the Renaissance, she actively participated in protest actions, in 1989 she became one of the creators of the Lithuanian Catholic women’s group “Caritas”.
Last year, A. Stulginsky’s star was presented to the chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, Ruslan Stefanchuk, and the former head of the parliament, the signatory of the March 11th Act on the Restoration of Independence, Česlov Juršėnais.
Former President Valdas Adamkus and US Senator Richard Joseph Durbin have previously received the award.
The A. Stulginskis star award is given for the contribution to fostering the ideas of parliamentarism, democracy and statehood. The award established by the Seimas in 2020 honors the personality of A. Stulginskis, the Chairman of the Founding Seimas, who served as president.
This award is usually given on May 15, when the Constituent Seimas declared the state of Lithuania the Republic of Lithuania in 1920, or at the next meeting. An unscheduled session of the Seimas was called to present the award to R.Stefančuk.
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2024-04-15 16:13:11