One of the key figures in the 1991 battle for Belarus’s independence was Ihar Hiermianchuk (1961–2002) — editor-in-chief of the independent newspaper “Svaboda,” deputy of the first Belarus parliament (1990–1995), and member of the opposition BPF party. This book explores the roots of Hiermianchuk’s development — his youthful passionate interest in Belarusian history; the influence of friends, fellow students and professors during his years as a journalism student at Belarus state university; his experience as a soldier in the soviet military; his early involvement in the underground dissident movement, and altercations with the KGB; and, finally, his victorious election to parliament. At its height, Hiermianchuk’s newspaper “Svaboda” had a record circulation of 100,000 copies. Popular among those in society who leaned democratic, it was also quite widely read by government officials. In April 1995, Hiermianchuk and several parliamentary colleagues staged a hunger strike in protest over a referendum about to be conducted by the country’s president, Alexander Lukashenka. Armed men in masks tore into the parliamentary chamber, attacking and beating the protesting deputies. Hiermianchuk suffered the brunt of these blows by putting up a fight and attempting to unmask the assailants. For years, both “Svaboda” and its editor were subject to unrelenting harassment — bank accounts were seized, computers confiscated, summonses delivered, investigations opened, KGB interrogations conducted. In 1998, a Belarusian court