KIEV, December 22 - RAPSI. A Kiev court of appeals confirmed on Wednesday the arrest of former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko in connection with her activities as the head of United Energy Systems of Ukraine in the 1990s, RIA Novosti reported from the court on Thursday.

"You are beasts, you know that Tymoshenko can not stand up for herself," defense counsel Serhiy Vlasenko shouted when presiding judge Olga Yefimova was reading out the court’s decision confirming Tymoshenko’s arrest under the new case.

 His protest was followed by all the deputies present in the courtroom chanting "fascists, fascists." The chants howled down the verdict so that the journalists watching the hearing’s broadcast failed to hear it.

However, the judge read up the judgment and the board withdrew from the courtroom.

A Kiev district court sanctioned Tymoshenko’s arrest under the second case during the December 8 on-site session at the pre-trial detention center Meanwhile, the former Ukrainian prime minister has been already been in custody since August.

A Kiev district court sentenced Tymoshenko on October 11 to seven years in prison for abuse of power in signing gas contracts between Ukraine’s Naftogaz and Russia’s Gazprom in 2009.

Under the new case, Tymoshenko stands indicted for tax evasion, non-disclosure of currency proceeds and attempted embezzlement of millions of U.S. dollars in budget funds. 

Tymoshenko’s defense says the Wednesday judgment of the appellate court is final.

The opposition is now determined to challenge the court of appeals’ ruling at the European Court of Human Rights.