Moscow - A Russian man faces a jail term after eating part of his ex-wife's passport during a dispute over her right to live in his flat, prosecutor's said in a report on Friday.

The former "husband tore out the page from her passport and ate it" in the presence of police dealing with the dispute in Nizhny Novgorod, east of Moscow, an official was quoted as saying in the daily Vremya Novostei.

The unidentified man faces up to one year in jail after being charged with "destroying official documents", assault and threatening behaviour, said the report.

The passport page contained a registration stamp confirming the right of the man's wife to live in the flat. - AFP