He passed away after a serious illness, the Seimas Chancellery reported.
P. Varanauskas was born on February 21, 1941, in the village of Kalneliškiai, Pasvalys district, was deported to the Tomsk region at the age of three months, and returned from exile in 1947.
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The social activist, who obtained a mechanical engineer qualification, worked at the Kaunas Polytechnic Institute, published more than 100 scientific articles, and created about 400 inventions.
He actively participated in the Lithuanian Revival movement, was a delegate to the Constituent Congress of the Lithuanian Reform Movement, a member of the Movement’s Seimas, one of the founders of the Lithuanian Deportees Club, and editor of the weekly “Tremtinys” (“Deportee”). On June 14, 1989, he organized the first Day of Mourning and Hope event in Lithuania.
On February 24, 1990, he was elected a deputy of the Supreme Council – Reconstituent Seimas, and on March 11, 1990, he voted for the restoration of Lithuania’s independence.
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In the Seimas, P. Varanauskas worked in the fields of education, science and culture, civil rights, nationalities, and the rights of resistance participants, and after leaving parliament, he continued his public activities and was a member of the Council of the Lithuanian Union of Political Prisoners and Deportees.
In 2000, for merits in restoring and consolidating the independent Lithuanian state, he was awarded the Independence Medal.
