Jan Lityński, Poland's communist-era opposition activist, former member of parliament and advisor to president Bronisław Komorowski was buried on Wednesday at the Military Cemetery in Warsaw. "His life path was filled with care and respect for people" - said Father Andrzej Luter.
Jan Lityński's friends and relatives first gathered at a memorial mass in a church in central Warsaw, and then the ceremony moved to the cemetery where the funeral was held.
At the church, Father Andrzej Luter said "I can feel Jan still lives inside us, in his dearest people".
"His life path was filled with care and respect for people" - the priest added.
Jan Lityński was involved in student protests of 1968 against the communist establishment. In 1970 he became a member of the Workers' Defense Committee, which later became the Solidarity trade union.
Under communism, was arrested multiple times and interned during the martial law imposed in December 1981.
In 1989, he took part in the famous Round Table talks which eventually led to Poland becoming a democratic country.
Lityński went on to become a member of parliament and an advisor to president Bronisław Komorowski.
He will be remembered as a kind and wise man who dedicated his life to serve his country. Lityński had been decorated with the Order of Polonia Restituta and Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland.
On February 21, Jan Lityński drowned in the river Narew in an attempt to save his dog. He was 75 years old.
Źródło: TVN24 News in English, PAP