Seimas honours eight Klaipėda residents for restoring independence

Parliament Speaker Juozas Olekas presented eight Klaipėda residents with a Seimas award for their contribution to restoring Lithuania’s independence, LRT reported.

Olekas said the recipients had shown personal courage during January 1991 and the August coup attempt. They defended the Giruliai television tower, the Klaipėda City Council building and other important facilities, worked on the Klaipėda defence committee and contributed to efforts to withdraw the Soviet army from Lithuania.

“Their work did not end after independence was defended,” Olekas said. He added that during the first years of independence, they helped create the new state and city, establish Klaipėda’s self-government and new state institutions, found Klaipėda University and develop the city’s first container terminal.

The award was presented to Šarūnas Jagminas, Algimantas Jucius, Vanda Kavaliauskienė, Vytautas Lupeika, Leonas Makūnas, Audrius Pauža, Nijolė Požarskienė and Julius Praleika.

According to the announcement, the eight recipients worked at the presidium of the Klaipėda City Council of People’s Deputies from 1990 to 1995. They contributed both to consolidating Lithuania’s restored independence and to creating a new system of self-government in Klaipėda.

The Seimas award was established by the parliamentary board in 2014 to recognise contributions to restoring Lithuania’s independence, strengthening the country’s statehood and parliamentary traditions, and work for the public good.