Liudas Mažylis, a professor at Vytautas Magnus University who claims to have found the Lithuanian-language original with 20 signatures, has told BNS that he has no doubts about the authenticity of the document.

Presided by Jonas Basanavičius, the Council of Lithuania signed the Act of Independence in Vilnius on February 16, 1918.

It is thought that Jurgis Šaulys, one of the signatories, took the document to a German representative in the afternoon of the same day and that it was sent to Germany by post.

The whereabouts of any of the original copies of the act have been unknown until now.