Former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko has appeared in court for a pre-trial hearing over charges of abuse of power.
Around 1,000 supporters gathered outside central Kiev's Pechersk Court, some holding white flags with red hearts, Ms Tymoshenko's party symbol.
The 50-year-old is a fierce critic of President Viktor Yanukovich and put on a typically defiant performance.
She denounced the hearing as an arranged 'farce' and told the judge to his face that 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.
Outside the court earlier she told reporters: 'This mock trial was organised and served up by Viktor Yanukovich. Nobody has any doubts that the courts and the state prosecution are in private hands and there will be no justice.'
The hearing was to decide whether to send Ms Tymoshenko for trial on a charge of abuse of power in connection with a gas supply agreement with Russia in January 2009 when she was prime minister.
That agreement ended a stand-off between Russia and its ex-Soviet neighbour over the pricing of Russian gas, which had led to supplies being cut off to Western Europe.
It has since been denounced by the Yanukovich leadership as a sell-out, though Kiev is continuing to observe it.
Ms Tymoshenko became known as the 'gas princess' in the late 1990s as owner of a company which bought and sold Russian gas.
Since losing to Yanukovich in a fight for the presidency in February 2010, she has failed to unify the opposition around her.
