Lithuanian Helsinki Group

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Lithuanian Helsinki Group
Lietuvos Helsinkio Grupė
Merged intoLithuanian Human Rights Association
Formation27 November 1976; 47 years ago (1976-11-27)
Founder
NGO
PurposeHuman rights monitoring
HeadquartersVilnius, Lithuania
Membership
41 (total)
Parent organization
Helsinki Committee for Human Rights

The Lithuanian Helsinki Group (full name: the Public Group to Promote the Implementation of the Helsinki Accords in Lithuania;

religious repressions, limitations on freedom of movement, political abuse of psychiatry, discrimination of minorities, persecution of human right activists, and other violations of human rights in the Soviet Union.[1] Most of the documents reached the West and were published by other human rights groups. Members of the group were persecuted by the Soviet authorities. Its activities diminished after it lost members due to deaths, emigration, or imprisonment, though it was never formally disbanded. Some of the group's functions were taken over by the Catholic Committee for the Defense of the Rights of Believers, founded by five priests in 1978.[2] Upon his release from prison, Viktoras Petkus
reestablished the Lithuanian Helsinki Group in 1988.

History

Inspired by the

Jesuit priest Karolis Garuckas, Jewish "refusenik" Eitanas Finkelšteinas, poet and deportee Ona Lukauskaitė-Poškienė, twice-imprisoned Catholic dissident Viktoras Petkus, and poet Tomas Venclova.[2] The formation was formally announced in a press conference to foreign journalists from Reuters and Chicago Tribune on November 27 or December 1, 1976 in the apartment of Yuri Orlov (Natan Sharansky acted as an interpreter to English).[3][4] The group did not have a more formal structure or a defined leader, though Petkus was its unofficial leader and driving force.[2][5]

The various backgrounds of the founders were intended to serve a wide range interests. The group did not want to become yet another Catholic or nationalistic dissident group; instead it strove to work on fundamental and universal human rights that would attract

Pentecostal living in Vilnius.[6] The group produced not only reports concerning specific individuals, but also reports on broader issue. In 1977, the group produced reports on situation of the former political prisoners, focusing on prohibition to return to Lithuania even after their prison term ended,[6] and the Catholic church. It also sent a report to the Follow-up Meeting of the Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe in Belgrade (4 October 1977 – 8 March 1978).[1]

In January 1979, Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe nominated Helsinki Groups of the Soviet Union, including the Lithuanian group, for the Nobel Peace Prize.[7] Petkus hoped to establish a broader Baltic organization that would represent all three Baltic states, but these plans were abandoned after his arrest in August 1977.[2] After the arrest of Petkus, there was a lull in the group's activity. It became more active again in early 1979 and published further documents primarily protesting arrests of various dissidents, including Antanas Terleckas, and statements critical of the Czechoslovakian government and the Soviet–Afghan War.[2] However, arrests of four other members effectively discontinued the activities of the Lithuanian Helsinki Group.[2]

The group was reestablished in 1988 when

ISBN 978-9955-9972-0-7). Many members of the group, including Viktoras Petkus, joined the Lithuanian Human Rights Association, the first official human rights organization established in 1989.[10] The Helsinki Group continues as an official group; in March 2014, it became co-founder of the Lithuanian Human Rights Coordination Centre (Lithuanian: Lietuvos žmogaus teisių koordinavimo centras).[11]

Membership

Tomas Venclova, a son of Antanas Venclova, a prominent Soviet writer, was allowed to emigrate to the United States just two months after the group's formation.[2] Viktoras Petkus was arrested on August 23, 1977. After a trial in 1978, he was sentenced to 10 years in prison and 5 years in exile.[1] He was freed after the introduction of glasnost in 1988. Karolis Garuckas died of cancer on April 5, 1979; Ona Lukauskaitė-Poškienė died on December 4, 1983. Eitan Finkelstein resigned from the group in 1979 and was allowed to emigrate to Israel in December 1983.[2]

Besides the five founding members, the group added six others.

Lithuanian partisan. Vytautas Skuodis, a professor of geology, also joined the group but was arrested in November 1979 for the possession of a 300-page manuscript titled Spiritual Genocide of Lithuania.[12] On February 14, 1980, Statkevičius was arrested and transferred to a psychiatric hospital. The group protested the arrests and wanted to admit Vytautas Vaičiūnas, a worker, but Jurevičius and Vaičiūnas were arrested on March 25, 1981. Therefore, in early 1981, Lukauskaitė-Poškienė was as the only member of the group, but due to poor health she was unable to continue group's activities.[2]

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, the reestablished group added many new members. In total, the group had 41 official members plus about 84 unofficial members.

Kazys Saja.[8]

Imprisoned members

The following members of the Group were arrested and sentenced by the Soviet authorities:[14]

  • Viktoras Petkus was sentenced on 13 July 1978, to three years in prison, seven years in special regimen camp and five years of internal exile for "anti-Soviet agitation and propaganda";
  • Algirdas Statkevičius was sentenced on 11 August 1980, to forcible psychiatric treatment after being arrested on 14 February 1980, reportedly for "anti-Soviet activities";
  • Vytautas Skuodys was sentenced on 22 December 1980, to seven years strict regimen camp and five years of internal exile for "anti-Soviet agitation and propaganda";
  • Mečislovas Jurevičius was sentenced on 25 June 1981, to three years of strict regimen camp for "organization of religious processions";
  • Vytautas Vaičiūnas was sentenced on 25 June 1981, to two and half years of general regimen camp for "organization of religious processions".

References

  1. ^
    ISBN 9986-757-65-7
    .
  2. ^
    ISSN 0024-5089
    .
  3. ISBN 9781139498920
    .
  4. ISBN 9789042017276
    .
  5. ^ a b Gustaitis, Rolandas (2011-12-23). "Lietuvos Helsinkio grupė ir vienas iš jos įkvepėjų – E. Finkelšteinas" [Lithuanian Helsinki Group and one of its inspirers- E. Finkelstein] (in Lithuanian). Bernardinai.lt. Retrieved 2014-12-21.
  6. ^
    ISBN 9780900058776
    .
  7. ISSN 0273-9348
    .
  8. ^
    ISBN 978-9955-9972-2-1
    .
  9. Lietuvos gyventojų genocido ir rezistencijos tyrimo centras
    . Retrieved 2014-12-21.
  10. ISBN 978-9955-9972-2-1
    .
  11. ^ "Lietuvos žmogaus teisių koordinavimo centro (LŽTKC) steigimo jungtinės veiklos sutartis" [Agreement on Joint Activities for the Establishment of the Lithuanian Human Rights Coordination Center (LHRC)] (in Lithuanian). Lithuanian Human Rights Association. 11 March 2014. Retrieved 2016-01-02.
  12. ISBN 9780520046252
    .
  13. ^ Vagrienė, Birutė. "Trumpai apie Lietuvos Helsinkio grupę" [Briefly about the Lithuanian Helsinki Group] (in Lithuanian). Vilniaus memorialinių muziejų direkcija. Retrieved 2014-12-21.
  14. ^ "Appendix B. Imprisoned members of the Helsinki monitoring groups in the USSR and Lithuania". Implementation of the Final Act of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe: findings and recommendations seven years after Helsinki. Report submitted to the Congress of the United States by the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe. November 1982. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office. 1982. pp. 251–252. Archived from the original (PDF, immediate download) on 22 December 2015. Retrieved 22 December 2015.

External links

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