Signatories of the Act of Independence of Lithuania Signatories of the Act of Independence of Lithuania The signatories of the Act of Independence of Lithuania were the twenty Lithuanian men who signed the Act of Independence of Lithuania on February 16, 1918. The signatories were elected to the Council of Lithuania by the Vilnius Conference in September 1917 and entrusted with the mission of establishing an independent Lithuanian state. The proclaimed independence was established only in late 1918, after Germany lost World War I and its troops retreated from Lithuanian territory. What followed was a long process of building the state, determining its borders, and gaining international diplomatic
Capital punishment in Lithuania the criminal code but was retained in the military law (). Article 14 of the military law provided for death penalty for eight crimes, mostly directed against the state, the military, or the officials, but also included armed robbery with murder. The provisional constitution of 1920 even spoke about the abolition of the death penalty. However, Lithuania with brief interruptions remained under the martial law until November 1938 when it was lifted due to German pressure in the months before the ultimatum of March 1939. Historian Sigita Černevičiūtė counted at least 146 executions in interwar Lithuania, though records are incomplete