Natan Sharansky was born in 1948 in Stalino, now Donetsk, Ukraine. He was a participant in the human rights movement in the USSR and one of the leaders of the struggle for the right of Soviet Jews to repatriate to Israel. In 1976, Sharansky became one of the founders of the Helsinki Accords Observance Group, which monitored violations of these agreements, including in relation to various religious and national groups in the Soviet Union. In 1977, he was arrested on charges of treason and espionage. After nine years of imprisonment, he was released on February 11, 1986. 1996-2005 - Minister and Deputy Prime Minister of four Israeli governments.

Alexey Navalny: "I really can't imagine how he survived... Reading his book, I sometimes shake my head to get rid of the feeling that I am reading my personal file. For example: the SHIZO/PKT building is a separate barracks behind barbed wire. The maximum term in a punishment cell is 15 days. And I was not surprised when, after several "fifteen" sentences in a row, I was transferred to a punishment cell for six months as a malicious offender. Same thing."