Two men in Russia's North Caucasus region of Daghestan have been beaten and forced to offer apologies after they publicly insulted the region's leader, Ramazan Abdulatipov.
On July 13, the two young men appeared in a video with badly beaten faces and two men standing by them. They are compelled to apologize to Abdulatipov and ask for forgiveness.
The story began earlier in the month when the two men, who are ethnic Nogai, posted a video demanding that Abdulatipov "leave Nogais alone," in response to controversial plans to begin construction works in an area inhabited primarily by Nogais.
In that video, the men used vulgar language and threats of sexual violence and compared Abdulatipov to Austrian singer and 2014 Eurovision Song Contest winner Conchita Wurst, a gay man who performs in drag.
The men later issued a second video apologizing for the first.
In the July 13 video, however, the two beaten men stand silently while a third man apologizes to Abdulatipov on behalf of the Nogai nation.
The mother of one of the men also appears in the video surrounded by a group of Nogai men. She says that her son was drunk when he made the initial video and asks Abdulatipov to forgive him "for the sake of the Almighty."
Several videos publicly shaming individuals for criticizing authorities and forcing them to beg forgiveness have appeared in recent months in the neighboring region of Chechnya.
