Residents of an asylum home in Germany beat a Serbian couple almost to death earlier this week, according to a gay rights activist.

Gay rights campaigner Javid Nabiyev posted a video to his Facebook page claiming that two Serbian men who had come to Germany as asylum seekers were beaten within an inch of their lives at an asylum home, with both being hospitalised. He released partial footage from the aftermath of the beating which showed a man lying battered and bloody on the floor next to him.

Mr. Nabiyev said that although many consider Serbia to be a safe country, the individuals who were beaten had to flee the Balkan nation because their own family members had threatened violence toward them.

He went on to say that they attempted to hide their sexuality from the other asylum seekers – a move which was recommended by social workers.

The couple had contacted Nabiyev many months before the attack to say they felt uncomfortable in the asylum home. Nabiyev attempted to have them transferred to a different home but was unable because authorities saw no health or safety danger to the couple.

“They don’t want to believe you about your situation when you are complaining in a verbal way,” Nabiyev said in the video, blaming the system for only acting after an attack rather than trying to prevent them.

Addressing the German authorities Nabiyev said: “How many people should face this kind of attack, to make all of you believe, to convince you, our situation is urgent?”

The man who carried out the attack was not named, and Nabiyev said that, while he was arrested by police and questioned, he was released back to the same asylum home afterwards.

The attack is the latest in a number of attacks on homosexuals in asylum homes or by asylum seekers, many of whom are Muslim. Some, like Nabiyev, have demanded separate accommodations for homosexual migrants, who they deem as being at particular risk of violence.