International attention is focused on Russia’s hosting of the Winter Olympic Games this month, so Masha Gessen’s enlightening account of the detention and trial of feminist punk band Pussy Riot is timely. Maria Alyokhina, Kat Samutsevich and Nadya Tolokonnikova were sentenced to two years in a labour camp. They were accused of “hooliganism” and “hatred towards Orthodox believers” after staging a brief performance in the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow aimed at drawing attention to the Russian Orthodox Church’s close ties to the Kremlin. Throughout their trial they maintained that their “punk prayer” was a political protest and not anti-religious. In her defence statement Tolokonnikova argued: “Passion, openness and naiv