Russian poet. Dissident. An author of Russian and French heritage, he was widely known for his political views and demonstrations against the harsh Soviet government. He was the son of Nikolai Borisovich Delone, a Soviet physicist. His grandfather, Boris Delaunay, was a prominent Soviet mathematician and creator of the Delaunay triangulation. Though the brother of Governor of Bastille, Bernard-René de Launay, he was of French heritage. He was well-educated studying in Moscow at the Mathematic School #2 as well as Department of Philology at the Moscow Pedagogical Institute. Delaunay started writing poetry at the age of thirteen. He became a freelance writer for the Russian newspaper “Literaturnaya Gazeta”. On January 22, 1967, Delaunay took part in a demonstration on Pushkin Square protesting the arrest of fellow human rights activists, Alexander Ginzburg and Yuri Galanskov, as well as articles 70 and 190 of the Soviet Penal Code—"Anti-Soviet agitation" and "Libel against the Soviet Government". After being arrested, he was given a one-year suspended sentence, which was incidentally in accordance with article 190 of the Penal Code. His sentence was much lighter than other demonstrators. Since he was required to move from Moscow as part of his sentencing, he went to Novosibirsk State University where he wrote poetry and published his first article in a Paris magazine. In the beginning of 1968, after the court hearing for Galanskov and Ginzburg, he wrote an open letter praising the two men’s bravery for standing up to a harsh government to “Literaturnaya Gazeta”. The letter was also published in the New York newspaper, “The New Russian Word”. In June 1968, he returned to Moscow. On August 25, 1968 while carrying a banner reading “For our freedom and yours”, he and six older dissidents organized the now-famous demonstration in support of the Prague Spring in Red Square near the Moscow Kremlin. Along with others, he was arrested by the KGB for denouncing the Soviet-led invasion of Czechoslovakia. During their hearing, he stated that the five minutes of freedom on the square were worth the awaiting years in prison. He received a sentence of two years and 10 months in the Siberian labor camp, Tyumen Oblast. It was stiff price for not compromising his political beliefs. He was released in June 1971 and returned to Moscow. In 1973, his wife Irina Belogorodskaya was arrested for her involvement with an underground journal, “Chronicle of Current Events”. In 1975, she was freed, and they both escaped to Paris, France for a sanctuary . In 1979, he published part of his labor camp diary, “Portraits in a Barbed Frame” or “Portrety v Koliuchei Rame”, in a magazine. In 1983 at the age of 35, Delaunay died of a heart disease, which may be related to the inhuman treatment received while at the labor camp. The following year, his entire diary was published in London as well as a book of poetry “Verses: 1963-1983”. In that same year, he was posthumously awarded the Russian Vladimi Dal Prize. His poetry has been published in Russia since 1989. “Let my sins not be forgiven; the reasons for this are many, but if I ever prayed to God for something, it was for others never for myself” -- Vadim Delaunay.