Rasa Ardys-Juska
We Commemorate. . . March 11, 1990
On March 11th, 1990, the Supreme Council of the Republic of Lithuania proclaimed the restoration of Lithuania's independence. During the next nine years, she emerged as a stable, growing, and motivated democracy. Meanwhile, Vytautas Landsbergis, the present President of Parliament and Lithuania's first President, emerged as the symbol of perseverance and conscience. The following is the official statement of "The Supreme Council of the Republic of Lithuania Act on the Restoration of the Lithuanian State", written on March 11, 1990.
| "The Supreme Council of the Republic of Lithuania, expressing
the will of the Nation, resolves and solemnly proclaims that the execution of the
sovereign power of the Lithuanian State, heretofore constrained by alien forces in 1940,
is restored, and henceforth Lithuania is once again an independent state. The February 16, 1918 Act of Independence of the Supreme Council of Lithuania and the May 15, 1920 Constituent Assembly Resolution on the restoration of a democratic Lithuanian State have never lost their legal force and are the constitutional foundation of the Lithuanian State. The territory of Lithuania is integral and indivisible, and the Constitution of any other State has no jurisdiction within it. The Lithuanian State emphasizes its adherence to universally recognized principles of international law, recognizes the principle of the inviolability of borders as formulated in Helsinki in 1975 in the Final Act of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe, and guarantees the rights of individuals, citizens and ethnic communities. The Supreme Council of the Republic of Lithuania, expressing sovereign power, by this act begins to achieve the state's full sovereignty."
Vilnius, March 11, 1990 |
(Source: Lithuanian Independence: The Re-establishment of the Rule of Law edited by S. Paul Zumbakis. Chicago: Ethnic Community Services, 1990.)