How pressure on PwC and a dying prisoner serve state interests One of the most important and essential characteristics of a well organized Soviet-style show trial is a categorical unwillingness on behalf of third parties to participate in or assist the defense in providing any evidence or testimony. This unwillingness, perhaps the deepest perversion of justice imaginable, is not something that comes about naturally, but rather is carefully cultivated through an elaborate campaign of fear generated by high-profile examples. These are precisely the dark arts being practiced right now by certain officials within the government of the Russian Federation, which has manipulated a court decision against one of the world’s most highly respected accounting firms, PriceWaterhouseCoopers, and is on the verge of murdering former Yukos executive Vasily Alexanyan in prison by illegally denying him medical care.