A Russian tycoon who has refused to appear at the trial of media mogul Alexander Lebedev spent last week goading him on social network sites.

Sergei Polonsky has sent a series of taunts to Mr Lebedev from a luxury apartment in Israel.

Mr Lebedev is accused of punching Mr Polonsky during a TV talk show in Russia in 2011.

In the latest online attack, Polonsky posted a photograph of himself on Twitter having a facial treatment with white strips attached to his face giving him a ‘horror mask’ appearance.

With it was the comment: ‘I will appear at your nightmares @lebedevalex :)) have a great weekend everyone.’

That image has followed others of the 40-year-old billionaire in which he is seen enjoying himself in a hot tub, kite-surfing on an Israeli beach and posing before a red sunset with an unidentified woman.

Mr Lebedev, 53, whose family controls the Independent newspaper titles and the London Evening Standard, faces up to five years in jail if the judge at the Moscow trial finds he punched Mr Polonsky because of ‘political hatred’.

Supporters of Mr Lebedev, who also owns a Russian investigative newspaper, say that Mr Polonsky’s games and refusal to appear in court make a mockery of the trial and his credibility as a witness.

Mr Polonsky had claimed he was in Cambodia, where he is on bail facing allegations of kidnap and assault, and was unable to leave.

Despite objections from Mr Lebedev’s lawyers, Mr Polonsky’s written statement has been accepted as evidence – but without him being available to be cross-examined about potentially goading his alleged attacker.

Yesterday, The Mail on Sunday traced Mr Polonsky to a $1 million luxury apartment overlooking Bat Yam beach near Tel Aviv.

It is from there that he is believed to have spent the past few days continuing his campaign to undermine and embarrass Mr Lebedev.

The apartment is in a Russian-built development which was constructed at a cost of $6 million two years ago. Flats in the high-rise building cost around $1 million and owners receive security from a Russian-speaking concierge.

Yesterday a constant stream of luxury vehicles – many with blacked out windows – arrived at the automated security barrier before heading for the underground car park.

It was revealed yesterday that Mr Polonsky was released in early April – after writing a personal appeal to the Prime Minister of Cambodia – and was then spirited out of the country first to Europe and then to the Middle East.

‘Polonsky was taken out of Cambodia on a diplomatic plane almost as luggage,’ said a Moscow source.

‘It happened several days after he was released from jail, perhaps even the next day.’

Last night, it emerged that his spy-style escape route may have involved a boat trip from Cambodia, – where he has a private island retreat – to Thailand with the ‘diplomatic plane’ believed to be from Bangkok.

Yesterday The Mail on Sunday tried to contact Mr Polonsky on a mobile phone he is said to have been using in Israel but he did not reply to text or voicemail messages.

Earlier, Mr Lebedev wrote on his blog that he believed the tycoon to be near Tel Aviv. He said: ‘I am addressing fellow bloggers from Israel: Have you seen our “victim” by any chance, somewhere on the Mediterranean coast between Ashdod and Tel Aviv? He is keenly waited at the trial.’