By Phil Stewart

ROME, Dec 1 (Reuters) - Mario Scaramella's poisoning by the same type of radiation that killed a former Russian agent last week is further proof that the Italian KGB expert is not the killer, Scaramella's lawyer told Reuters on Friday.

Scaramella, who met Litvinenko in London the same day he fell ill on Nov. 1, has been dogged by accusations of involvement in Alexander Litvinenko's death. News of his poisoning sparked fears on Friday about contamination in Italy.

The Senate ordered radiation checks on the room where Scaramella met with a small group of reporters on Nov. 21. His lawyer complained of media reports suggesting Scaramella's poisoning was further proof he might be the killer -- ingesting radioactive polonium 210 inadvertently. "There is a series of news reports that make no sense," attorney Sergio Rastrelli said in an interview.

"For example, that there is a polonium alert in Italy. For example, that Scaramella is contagious and transmitting (radiation). For example, Scaramella has doubled his role of participation in homicide...

"On the contrary, this strengthens the thesis that Scaramella is a victim of this terrible situation.

Scaramella, who describes himself as a security consultant who advised an Italian parliamentary commission on Cold War-era Soviet espionage, said last week he had met Litvinenko on Nov. 1 at a London sushi restaurant to show him e-mails from a mutual source warning both their lives might be in danger.

Significant amounts of radioactive Polonium 210 were found in the body of Litvinenko, a fierce Kremlin critic who accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of ordering his slow, agonising death. Moscow denies involvement.

Scaramella says he did not eat anything at the sushi restaurant but Rastrelli said British health authorities thought he was poisoned by ingestion, and suggested he may have suffered same type of exposure as Litvinenko -- to a lesser degree.

"They have not spoken about (the timing) but they spoke about the same exposure. So the most logical thing is to think is the same place, the same date, and the same circumstance," Rastrelli said, without elaborating.

A medical spokesman in London said Scaramella was currently well and shows no symptoms of radiation poisoning. His lawyer downplayed accounts that he was suffering from depression.

"He's clearly alarmed by the situation, because it was clearly not nice to have heard that he was poisoned," he said.

"But since his health is excellent at the moment, and since a lot of time has passed since the suspected poisoning, the hope is that the dose is minimal enough to not harm his health."

Litvinenko had been investigating the death of a famous Russian journalist and Putin critic in October and the emails Scaramella had showed him had warned that the same criminals who killed her might be after them, Scaramella has said.

Litvinenko had also published a book accusing Russian security services of carrying out Moscow apartment bombings in 1999 that were blamed on Chechen rebels and used by Putin as justification for war against the separatists.

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