Yulia Tymoshenko, the former Ukrainian prime minister, appeared in court for a pretrial hearing over charges of abuse of power, denouncing the hearing as a "farce" and telling the judge he was a presidential "puppet". "At such an important moment for Ukraine, I do not want in that chair such a judge as you. I am throwing down this challenge to you because I consider you a puppet of the presidential administration," she told judge Rodion Kyreyev in court. Read more.
