Tuesday 14 November 2023 @ 10:00 CET

On Tuesday, ECR MEPs Prof Ryszard Legutko, Anna Fotyga and Alexandr Vondra will host a group of special guests to the European Parliament, anti-Communist dissidents who have successfully fought Soviet imperialism in their respective countries.

The group of humble heroes who hail from Poland, Lithuania, Estonia, Belarus, Ukraine, Georgia, Azerbaijan and Armenia, including Crimean Tatars and Chechens too, will gather in Brussels to share their desire for liberty and to protest against the new wave of Russian Imperialism. Some of them are well known to the public, some have reached the highest positions in their respective countries. In some cases, their heroism remains inadequately recognised. Many have also had to flee their homeland seeking political asylum worldwide. The event aims to celebrate the “Invincible Spirit” of those who fought against the shadows of the past and continue to light the way towards a brighter future.

The event will be held in room SPINELLI 1G1 in the European Parliament @ 10:00 on Tuesday 14 November.

Participants include:

• Isa Gambar, former President of Azerbaijan
• Arif Hajili, Chairman of Musavat Party, Azerbaijan
• Vardan Harutyunyan, anti-communist dissident, former political prisoner from Armenia
• Adas Jakubauskas, chairman of the Union of Lithuanian Tatar Communities
• Sławomir Karpiński, president of the “December 13” Association, anti-communist opposition activist in the Polish People’s Republic
• Oles Shevchenko, Ukrainian politician, Soviet-era dissident
• Leonardas Vilkas, Lithuanian Freedom League, human rights defender
• Ilmi Umerov, Deputy Chairman of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People, former political prisoner
• Saulius Pečeliūnas, Former Member of the Parliament of the Republic of Lithuania, human rights defender, Lithuania
• Andrius Tučkus, Lithuanian Freedom League, human rights defender. Lithuania
• Irena Lasota - anti-communist opposition activist in the Polish People’s Republic, Polish philosopher, publicist, publisher, social and political activist, and president/co-director of the Institute for Democracy in Eastern Europe - online
• Piotr Jan Hlebowicz, anti-communist opposition activist in the Polish People’s Republic, co-chairman of the Autonomous Eastern Department of “Fighting Solidarity” (Solidarność Walcząca)
• Valery Buival, Belarusian dissident, refugee
• Sinaver Kadyrov, activist of the Tatar national movement
• Diana Bidochko, member of the Ukrainian Helsinki Union, co-founder and member of the Presidium of the Ukrainian Republican Party, co-founder of «Warsaw — 90»
• Marek Bartosiak, member of the Polish anti-communist opposition Solidarność and of the Fighting Solidarity (Solidarność Walcząca) movement
• Lech Osiak, member of the Polish anti-communist opposition Solidarność, former political prisoner
• Safinar Dzhemilova, head of the League of Crimean Tatar women
• Tariel Gviniashvili, former political prisoner, human rights defender, Georgia
• Janina Jadwiga Chmielowska, activist of the anti-communist opposition in the Polish People’s Republic, co-chairman of the Autonomous Eastern Department of “Fighting Solidarity” (Solidarność Walcząca)
• Akhyad Idigov, member of the Presidium of the Government of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria
• Osman Bamatgiriev, Ichkeria patriot in Germany
• Krzysztof Łucyk, member of the Polish anti-communist opposition Solidarność and of the Fighting Solidarity (Solidarność Walcząca) movement
• Paruyr Hayrikyan, former long-time political prisoner, defender of human rights in the USSR, president of the coordination center of democratic movements in the USSR “Democracy and Independence”
• Mariusz Bernard Patey, Social activist, publicist, politician
• Mustafa Dzhemilev - former long-time political prisoner, defender of human rights in the USSR, leader of the Crimean Tatar National Movement, deputy to the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, online
• Wioleta Maria Osiak, member of the Polish anti-communist opposition and of the Fighting Solidarity movement
• Jarosław Mańka, journalist, director
• Krzysztof Mucharski, Activist of the Polish Tatar community
• Kalle Jurgenson – former member of the Estonian Congress and the Estonian Committee, former member of the Estonian Parliament, online