masha gessen
Based on a crowd at Ace Hotel, Pussy Riot's conviction is only the beginning
Masha Gessen, a Moscow-based journalist who wrote an article for the New York Times comparing the Pussy Riot trial to the Stalinist show trials, said that the case has been a cause for despondency in Moscow. “It’s a witch trial, and an incompetent witch trial, which somehow adds insult to injury. At some point, it began to feel like ‘The worse, the better,’” she said, referring to the popular Russian saying. The state is “showing their true colors like they never have before. And in that way, Pussy Riot has won.” More
