Aloyzas Sakalas, a signatory of Lithuania’s 1990 Independence Act and one of the initiators of the Sąjūdis movement, which led the struggle for Lithuanian independence, passed away on Monday at the age of 91.
Gintarė Žukaitė-Zelenkienė, head of the parliamentary speaker’s office, has confirmed Sakalas’ death to BNS. She said the Board of the Seimas was meeting on Tuesday morning to set up the state funeral commission.
Birutė Valionytė, president of the Club of Signatories, told BNS that Sakalas had died after a serious illness.
Sakalas graduated from Kaunas Polytechnic Institute in 1960. He received his degree as a Doctor of Physics and Mathematics at Vilnius University in 1976.
He was an author of about 250 scientific papers on semiconductor physics, as well as 16 inventions and two discoveries.
Sakalas was imprisoned for anti-Soviet activities between 1949 and 1954.
He became a member of Sąjūdis in 1988 and a member of the Lithuanian Social Democratic Party in 1989. He led the party from 1991 to 1998 and then became its honorary chairman.
He served as a member of the Lithuanian parliament between 1990 and 2004 and as a member of the European Parliament between 2004 and 2009.
Sakalas was awarded the Medal of Independence of Lithuania and the Commander’s Cross of the Order of the Lithuanian Grand Duke Gediminas.
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