Algirdas Petrusevičius (born 23 February 1937 in

Klaipėda Klaipėda (; ; german: Memel; pl, Kłajpeda; russian: Клайпеда; sgs, Klaipieda) is a city in Lithuania on the Baltic Sea coast. The capital of the eponymous county, it is the third largest city and the only major seaport in Lithuan ...

) is an anti-Soviet

dissident A dissident is a person who actively challenges an established Political system, political or Organized religion, religious system, doctrine, belief, policy, or institution. In a religious context, the word has been used since the 18th century, and ...

partisan Partisan may refer to: Military * Partisan (weapon), a pole weapon * Partisan (military), paramilitary forces engaged behind the front line Films * ''Partisan'' (film), a 2015 Australian film * ''Hell River'', a 1974 Yugoslavian film also know ...

and

political prisoner A political prisoner is someone imprisoned for their political activity. The political offense is not always the official reason for the prisoner's detention. There is no internationally recognized legal definition of the concept, although n ...

, a leader in the creation of

Lithuania Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublika, links=no ), is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. Lithuania ...

's army, an inventor of weapons for

guerrilla warfare Guerrilla warfare is a form of irregular warfare in which small groups of combatants, such as paramilitary personnel, armed civilians, or Irregular military, irregulars, use military tactics including ambushes, sabotage, Raid (military), raids ...

, and a member of Lithuania's

parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

from 1996 to 2000.

Biography

From 1953 to 1956, Algirdas Petrusevičius was second-in-command in the

Kaunas Kaunas (; ; also see other names) is the second-largest city in Lithuania after Vilnius and an important centre of Lithuanian economic, academic, and cultural life. Kaunas was the largest city and the centre of a county in the Duchy of Trakai ...

underground organization " Geležinis vilkas" (Iron Wolf). On Lithuania's independence day, February 16, 1956, he raised the Lithuanian flag in the Kaunas

city hall In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre (in the UK or Australia), guildhall, or a municipal building (in the Philippines), is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually houses ...

square. In the subsequent gun battle, he was arrested, sentenced and imprisoned in Siberia, being held at

Ozerlag Ozerlag (Озерлаг) was an MVD special camp (''osoblag No. 7'', ''osoby lager No. 7'') in the Soviet GULAG labor camp system for political prisoners. It was established in 1948 near Taishet and included a chain of camp sites (''lagernye punkty' ...

near

Tayshet Tayshet ( rus, Тайшет, p=tɐjˈʂɛt, lit. ''cold river'' in the Kott language) is a town and the administrative center of Tayshetsky District in Irkutsk Oblast, Russia, located northwest of Irkutsk, the administrative center of the oblast ...

. He twice attempted escape, was wounded and lost his arm. He returned to Lithuania in 1968. From 1990 to 1993 he led the newly independent Lithuania's Defense Department weapons arsenal "Vytis". He invented pistol-machine guns Vytis suitable for guerilla war, as well as

hand grenade A grenade is an explosive weapon typically thrown by hand (also called hand grenade), but can also refer to a shell (explosive projectile) shot from the muzzle of a rifle (as a rifle grenade) or a grenade launcher. A modern hand grenade genera ...

s, and along with his colleagues,

land mine A land mine is an explosive device concealed under or on the ground and designed to destroy or disable enemy targets, ranging from combatants to vehicles and tanks, as they pass over or near it. Such a device is typically detonated automati ...

s. In 1996, he was elected chairman of the Union of Volunteer Founders of Lithuania's Army. From 1996 to 2000 he was a member of Lithuania's parliament

Seimas The Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublikos Seimas), or simply the Seimas (), is the unicameral parliament of Lithuania. The Seimas constitutes the legislative branch of government in Lithuania, enacting laws and amendmen ...

as part of the Tėvynės sąjunga party. In Seimas, he was a member of the committee for security and defence. In 2007, he was sentenced to four years of detention for illegal use of weapons after political provocation in the style of Russian

secret service A secret service is a government agency, intelligence agency, or the activities of a government agency, concerned with the gathering of intelligence data. The tasks and powers of a secret service can vary greatly from one country to another. For ...

s: using this case conservative party was discredited twice - before municipality elections in 2007 and parliament election 2008. Lithuania's supreme court voided the sentence. Afterwards, his trial was begun anew.

External links

Biografija

Teismo nesudomino A.Petrusevičiaus "okupacinis sindromas"
{{DEFAULTSORT:Petrusevicius, Algirdas 1937 births Living people People from Klaipėda Members of the Seimas