We pronounce the Russian state guilty of subverting the last shred of its democratic character by formally becoming a tool of the Russian Orthodox Church.

Pussy Riot members will be sent to prison for two years.

The judge's reasoning?

"The girls' actions were sacrilegious, blasphemous and broke the church's rules."

And? So? Since when does a secular state enforce church rules about blasphemy or anything else? In a normal country, this would be grounds for automatic appeal. Not so much in Putin's dystopia.

Pussy Riot was protesting the hand-in-glove relationship of the church and the Russian state. Sadly, theocrats and their supporters don't get irony.

Boris Gromyko is a Contributing Writer for The Propagandist