Adam Michnik receives Lithuania's Freedom Prize

A former Polish dissident was awarded on the Freedom Defenders' Day in Lithuania.

The prize was given to Adam Michnik at the Lithuanian Seimas, ru.DELFI.lt reports.

MP Irena Degutiene, the chairwoman of the prize committee, said, presenting the winner, that the Polish dissident showed unconditional and reckless support for Lithuania's freedom by backing the struggle of Lithuanian citizens against the Soviet Union's aggression in 1991. She stressed that Michnik repeatedly spoke against using ethnic groups to stir up hatred between the people of Poland and Lithuania.

The Freedom Prize was founded by the Seimas of Lithuania on September 15, 2011. The prize amounts to 5,000 euros (17,250 litas). It is awarded annually at a special meeting of the parliament on January 13.

Previous prize winners include Russian human rights defender Sergei Kovalev; Antanas Terleckas, a former Soviet dissident and leader of the Freedom League of Lithiania; and archbishop Sigitas Tamkevičius who founded the underground publication, Chronicles of the Catholic Church of Lithuania.