Parliament declares 2013 the year to commemorate Polish-Lithuanian uprising of 1863

A relevant resolution was adopted on Tuesday by 46 parliamentarians in support and two abstentions.

The parliament said the resolution was aimed at emphasizing the historic and cultural significance of the 1863 uprising for the Lithuanian, Belorussian, and Polish nations. 2013 will mark 150 years since the uprising.

The government has been advised to approve a program of events for next year by 1 September, as well as envisage funds for the program in the 2013 budget.

The uprising of 1863-1864 was an uprising in the former Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth against the rule of the Russian Empire. Fighting for freedom took place in Russia-occupied Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania along with their ethnographic territories in Belarus and Ukraine.

In Poland, it began on 22 January 1863 and is called the January uprising. In Lithuania, the uprising broke out in March 1863. It lasted until Russia's army captured the last insurgents in the fall of 1864.