Gunārs Astra was a Latvia

Latvia

Latvia , officially the Republic of Latvia , is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by Estonia , to the south by Lithuania , to the east by the Russian Federation , to the southeast by Belarus and shares maritime borders to the west with Sweden...

n human rights

Human rights

Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...

 activist  arrested by the Soviet Union

Soviet Union

The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....

 in 1961 and sentenced to prison for 15 years. He was released in 1976. In 1983 he was arrested again but released several weeks before his death.

A plaque on the District Court in Riga

Riga

Riga is the capital and largest city of Latvia. With 702,891 inhabitants Riga is the largest city of the Baltic states, one of the largest cities in Northern Europe and home to more than one third of Latvia's population. The city is an important seaport and a major industrial, commercial,...

states: In this building on 15 December 1983 Gunārs Astra, the fighter for the freedom of Latvian people, was sentenced. "I believe that this time will disappear like a nightmare. This gives me the strength to stand and breathe here."

Gunārs Astra is buried in the Meža kapi in Riga.

External links

• gunars-astra-1931-1988 Gunārs Astra 1931-1988, by Makss, allaboutlatvia.com