Family wishes can alter signatories’ funeral protocol

The state funeral of Kazimira Danutė Prunskienė, the first prime minister of restored independent Lithuania, will take place on Thursday at Antakalnis Cemetery’s Signatories’ Hill, LRT reports. The president of the Independence Act Signatories’ Club says all signatories are buried according to a ceremonial protocol approved by the government, with changes made only at the request of relatives.

Prunskienė’s funeral will begin at 1 p.m. on Thursday. The public farewell will be held at the Church of St Johns from 2 p.m. on Wednesday.

The ceremony includes an honour guard and three salvos. “A signatory is considered equivalent to a Lithuanian soldier, which is in fact true,” said Birutė Valionytė, president of the Independence Act Signatories’ Club.

Arminas Lydeka, a member of parliament and protocol expert, said the ceremony also includes the use of state symbols and a tribute by the grave while the national anthem is sung.

However, relatives can request changes. Valionytė recalled that the children of signatory Vidmantė Jasiukaitytė strongly objected to three salvos because they wanted “silence and peace” at the grave.

Only presidential funerals are specifically provided for by law. The government decides on state funerals in other cases through a separate decision, Lydeka said.

President Algirdas Brazauskas was farewelled at the Presidential Palace, and a ceremonial parliamentary sitting was held. His funeral included an honour guard and delegations from foreign countries.

Although Alma Adamkienė, the wife of President Valdas Adamkus, was farewelled at the Presidential Palace, her funeral was not a state funeral. The government also organised state funerals for former prime minister Gediminas Kirkilas and conductor Saulius Sondeckis, as well as for the reburial of the remains of leaders and participants in the 1863 to 1864 uprising.

State funerals are the highest level of official tribute and are organised and paid for by the state. The prime minister and speaker of parliament are expected to attend Prunskienė’s farewell, while the president is unlikely to participate because he is working from Madeira this week.