Blogger from Dagestan apologizes for mocking over Christian cross

A native of Dagestan living in Moscow has made a public apology to believers for trampling on a Christian cross during a live broadcast on the Internet. He has stated that he fell victim to a provocation. Commentators in social networks demanded that the streamer be punished and recalled the beating of Nikita Zhuravel by Ramzan Kadyrov's son for burning down the Koran.

The video was posted on the NTV channel website. The streamer takes off a cross with a cord lying on the floor, tramples it with his foot and spits on the cross.

Then another video was shown, in which the streamer has explained that he had trampled the cross because he became a victim of provocation. He explained that he was emotional because he had been streaming for about six months. “I told everyone to stop, and I [succumbed] to the provocation. I regret of what I did, I apologize to believers,” said the author of the live broadcast.

The streamer was Alexei Mezov a blogger from Dagestan, acting under the nickname “Javier”; he was born in 1995 and works as a security guard in Moscow, the "Dagestani News Tape" outlet has reported.

“Only criminal liability for inciting an interreligious conflict should be applied,” the user Boris Kuznetsov wrote in the "VKontakte" social network.

“Insulting believers' feelings can't be overturned by any apologies or justifications. There is an article in the Criminal Code and responsibility for it,” the user Irina Lazareva-Kuznetsova has expressed a similar opinion.

Some other users have recalled the case of Volgograd resident Nikita Zhuravel. “The young man was sent to prison for burning the Koran,” the user Andrei Silantiev has written.