Gitanas Nauseda: Kalinouski Led Belarusians To Fight

The President of Lithuania honoured the memory of the Kalinouski rebels.

Today, the solemn reburial of Kastus Kalinouski and his comrades-in-arms - participants of the national liberation uprising of 1863 - is taking place in Vilnius. Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda delivered a speech at the event:

- Whatever is done in the dark eventually comes to the light. And so Gediminas' Mountain revealed its secret to us. The example of Kalinouski's rebels, though they tried to hush it up, inspired the next generations of patriots to fight for independence. Finally, we see their bodies lifted from the nameless pit where the Russian authorities wanted to hide them. This reburial allows us to rethink the history of the 19th century. Our connection to the rebels has never been as strong as it is today. Their struggle, their ideas led to the emergence of modern states. Kalinouski led the Belarusians to fight, Sierakowski inspired the Lithuanian-speaking participants of the uprising. This gives an example and hope to all the nations that took part in the uprising. The insurgency's cry for freedom is still relevant today. There is pragmatic policy in the world, but there are also ideals. Despots brutally suppressed the uprising. Modern despots want to repeat this cycle. But as long as there is a desire for freedom, no despots can do anything to such people," - Nauseda said.

Charter97.org reports from the reburial of Kalinouski and the rebels live.