1. Viktoras Petkus was a Lithuanian political activist and Soviet dissident.
19 Facts About Viktoras Petkus
1. 2.
Viktoras Petkus was a founding member of the Lithuanian Helsinki Group in 1976 which set out to document violations of human rights in the Soviet Union.
3.
For various anti-Soviet activities, Petkus was imprisoned three times in various prisons and Gulag camps by the Soviet authorities.
4.
Viktoras Petkus served the sentence in the Vladimir Central Prison and in the Komi ASSR.
5.
Viktoras Petkus attempted to escape in 1949 and the sentence was doubled to ten years.
6.
Viktoras Petkus returned to Lithuania and wanted to join a priest seminary, but was refused due to his imprisonment.
7.
Viktoras Petkus then enrolled into Vilnius University to study languages and literature.
8.
In 1957, Viktoras Petkus participated in anti-Soviet protest during the All Saints' Day gathering in Rasos Cemetery.
9.
Viktoras Petkus was sentenced by the Supreme Court of the Lithuanian SSR to seven years in labor camps.
10.
Viktoras Petkus served the sentence in Ozerlag, Dubravlag, and Vladimir Central Prison.
11.
Viktoras Petkus was arrested again in December 1975 when he went to meet Andrei Sakharov who arrived to Vilnius for the trial of Sergei Kovalev.
12.
Viktoras Petkus was a key participant in organizing the Lithuanian Helsinki Group in November 1976 to monitor human rights in the Lithuanian SSR after the adoption of the Helsinki Accords.
13.
Viktoras Petkus initiated the establishment of the Joint Supreme Committee of the Estonian, Latvian, and Lithuanian National Movements in August 1977.
14.
Viktoras Petkus served his sentence in the Vladimir Central and Chistopol Prisons and Perm-36 camp.
15.
Viktoras Petkus returned to Lithuania in fall 1988 and joined political activities.
16.
Viktoras Petkus co-founded the Union of Lithuanian Political Prisoners in 1990.
17.
Viktoras Petkus wrote several works on the history of the Catholic church in Lithuania: chapels of Vilnius Cathedral, bishop Ignacy Jakub Massalski, bishops of Vilnius, priest Ceslovas Kavaliauskas, Dominican Order in Lithuania, Church of Saint Nicholas in Vilnius.
18.
Viktoras Petkus published two volumes of documents of the Lithuanian Helsinki Group and a collection of letters, memoirs, and poems of political prisoners of the Soviet Union.
19.
Viktoras Petkus was buried in Raseiniai where a progymnasium was renamed in his memory in September 2012.