Top prison officials in Saint Petersburg have been charged with the rape of two prisoners, one of whom was awaiting trial.

Seven members of the Russian federal prison service, including the head of operations, Yevgeny Petrov and his deputy Rostislav Balobolko have been charged with numerous abuses.

The violent attacks were allegedly carried out on two male prisoners, both of whom attempted to escape from a prison in the Saint Petersburg region.

In one of the cases, Mr Balobolko has been accused of ordering prisoners under psychiatric care to carry out physical and psychological violence as a punishment.

Two convicts in a psychiatric block were allegedly ordered to carry out violent sex acts on the prisoner.

In the second case, Mr Petrov was charged with personally raping a prisoner while filming the attack and ordering other inmates to also engage in the sexual assault.

Four convicts have also been charged with sexual assault in the two cases.