Vladimir Putin critic Alexei Navalny has been kneed in the groin by brutal prison guards in what is believed to be delibrate provocation to prolong his jail term for a further five years.
The Russian opposition leader's lawyer Vadim Kobzev made the allegation against the jailers who had returned a “stinking” homeless man to the politician’s cell.
Navalny, 46, who wants to replace Vladimir Putin and lead a democratic Russia, was “dragged into the cell” after refusing to voluntarily enter while the unwashed man was there.
The lawyer said: “Navalny, who did not offer any resistance, received a knee blow to the groin.”
He was then pushed into the cell with the man, the lawyer added.
Navalny had been warned in advance that he would be provoked into using force against his cellmate as it was the only way of getting rid of a man so unhygienic and in a “completely animal state” that he was impossible to live with.
The prison staff had told Navalny the only way of getting rid of the cellmate - named Tatarchenko - was to attack him, which, in turn, would lead to Navalny being prosecuted.
His lawyer said: “Once in the cell, Navalny did not use violence against his cellmate, but grabbed him by the collar, and dragged him to the exit.
“After that, [Navalny] was blocked and pressed against the wall by the response team.”
The warders then “happily informed Navalny that a criminal case would be initiated against him under Article 321 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation” - with a punishment of up to five years in jail additional to his nine-year sentence.
“Navalny's defence is outraged by such a blatant, brazen and cynical provocation,” said the lawyer.
“We demand an immediate response from the leadership of the [prison service] and the Prosecutor's Office.”
They accused Russia’s human rights commissioner Tatyana Moskalova of ignoring an advance warning that such a provocation would be staged against Navalny.
Navalny’s team accused the authorities of seeking to kill him slowly having failed to poison him to death with Novichok.
He has recently suffered acute stomach pains the cause of which is feared to be new poisoning.
Kira Yarmysh, Alexei Navalny's spokeswoman, tweeted that an ambulance was called to the maximum security IK-6 penal colony at Melekhovo, about 155 miles east of Moscow, where he is being held.
Ms Yarmysh wrote: "We do not rule out that all this time in prison he could have been poisoned with something to make his health deteriorate slowly but steadily."
She said he has lost over a stone in weight as the "severe" stomach pain meant he could not eat the prison food provided as it was making the pain worse and he has been banned from buying alternative food.
The latest Navalny incident in his jail in Vladimir region comes the day after dual Russian-British citizen Vladimir Kara-Murza - was sentenced to a draconian 25 years in jail for “treason” and opposing Putin’s war in Ukraine.
Britain condemned the sentence as “politically motivated”.
It comes as a Russian judge today turned down a bail plea by Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, a US citizen, who was arrested on charges of espionage for which he faces up to 20 years in prison.
The reporter appeared at the Moscow City Court to appeal his detention, wearing a checked shirt and keeping his arms folded in front of him.
He did not say anything while the court heard a complaint filed by him against the decision to keep him in custody in the Lefortovo prison in Moscow.
But a Russian judge upheld the detention despite the journalist, his employer and the US government denying the allegations.
