LJUBLJANA (AFP) - Two Slovenian men have been remanded in custody after a man who was beaten up live on Facebook died from his injuries, authorities said on Wednesday (Feb 15).

"The investigating judge ordered the detention of the two suspects after questioning them," police spokeswoman Alenka Drenik told AFP.

The footage showed one of the suspects kicking and punching Andrej Cekuta, 26, even as he lay unconscious on the ground on Monday night, while the other filmed and live-streamed it.

Cekuta was still alive when police found him in the early hours of Tuesday in the eastern village of Podbocje but he succumbed to his wounds in hospital in the afternoon.

The two men, aged 20 and 29, were arrested at the scene.

The Dnevnik newspaper reported that police intervened following an anonymous phone call and needed hours before getting the 20-minute video removed from the Internet.

By that time it had received more than 250,000 views and garnered 400 "likes" on the social media website.

The Slovenske Novice daily reported in an article titled "Died as Slovenia watched" that Cekuta and the two alleged attackers knew each other and were drunk when they fell into a quarrel.

It is not the first time that Facebook's Live tool, launched last year, has caused controversy.

Last month, Swedish police arrested three men on suspicion of gang-raping a woman live on Facebook to a closed group with 60,000 members.

Earlier in January, four people in Chicago were accused of holding captive and assaulting a man with special needs live on the site over 30 minutes.