Leader of the Movement For Freedom.

Alyaksandr Milinkevich was born in 1947 in Hrodna in a family of teachers. His great-great-grandfather and great-grandfather participated in the rebellion of 1863-64, his grandfather advocated fought for Belarusian schools in the interwar period, when Hrodna was a part of Poland.

A physicist by training, heholds a PhD in physical and mathematical sciences. Mr Milinkevich worked at the Belarus Institute of Physics of the Academy of Sciences, he then taught at the University of Hrodna. Later, he headed a department at the University of Algerian city of Setif (1980-84). Mr Milinkevich was a trainee in the university of Montpellier (France, 1980) and the University of California (USA, 1998). He took a course at the European Center for Security Studies in Garmisch-Partenkirchen (Germany, 2000).

After returning to Hrodna, Mr Milinkevich became engaged in local history studies, he was a leader of the informal association of intellectuals Pakhodnya (Torch). For almost 10 years he was the host of the local television program about the history of Hrodna region. At the end of 1980s he found the burial site of the last king of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth Stanislaw August Poniatowski in Wołczyn, for which he was awarded the Order of “For Service to Polish Culture,” he wrote memoires about it. He organized the restoration of the oldest tower clock in Europe – in the Farny Church in Hrodna.

Being the Deputy Chairman of the Hrodna City Executive Committee (1990-96), he was engaged in education, culture, religion, health, media, international relations, sports, youth and the protection of historical heritage. He continued to teach at the university. He left the administration position before the 1996 referendum.

He founded the association Ratusha (Town Hall), which used to assist public initiatives in Hrodna.

In 2000, he headed the election headquarters of the presidential candidate Syamyon Domash. In 2006 he headed the Movement For Freedom and became a single opposition candidate in the presidential election.

He speaks English, French, and Polish.

Alyaksandr Milinkevich has been married twice. His second wife is a social activist Inna Kuley. He has two sons from his first marriage — Alyaksandr and Vitaut.