Riot Games Releases Ruling for League of Legends Pro's Domestic Violence Case

Riot Games announced a 20-month competitive ban for a professional League of Legends player after a domestic violence incident was broadcasted through his livestream.

Li "Vasilii" Wei Jun was first suspended by Riot Games in October when an on-screen outburst after a League match led to Vasilii making verbal threats towards his girlfriend. His girlfriend reportedly attempted to calm Vasilii down when the streamer lashed out, throwing everything to the ground and threatening his girlfriend in the process.

The audio heard in the incident is disturbing, but most of the altercation took place out of the camera's view. For that reason, there was no explicit evidence of physical violence. Riot Games questioned both Vasilii and his girlfriend after the incident with both parties saying no physical assault occurred with no evidence to prove otherwise.

However, Riot Games is still taking the incident quite seriously even without proof of direct physical abuse due to the verbal threats that were clearly heard.

"We consider Vasilii's behavior particularly egregious, beyond the worst kinds of extreme misconduct that we originally had in mind when we devised the Global Penalty Index," the ruling said. "As specified in the GPI, we reserve the right to modify the Maximum Suspension Time due to aggravating circumstances. We consider the fact that threats of domestic abuse were made - and that they were made toward a defenseless person and in a private residence - to be aggravating factors. Whereas making these threats toward another another professional player on stage might warrant a 10 month suspension, physical intimidation and threats of domestic abuse should be punished much more harshly."

The 20-month ban being levied against Vasilii only counts the competitive months that span from January to October each season meaning that Vasilii won't be able to compete again until January 2020. He was dropped by his team, Newbee, after the incident, but no other team will be able to sign him until his suspension is lifted.

In light of Vasilii's case, Riot also said that they're planning on reevaluating the Global Penalty Index to account for future situations such as this one.

"The current limitation of 10 months would not be appropriate for cases such as actual domestic abuse, which would warrant an Indefinite Suspension," the ruling continued. "To account for these kinds of cases and the wide range of offenses that could be considered extreme misconduct, effective immediately we are adjusting the Maximum Suspension Time for Extreme Misconduct to 'Indefinite' to account for the most extreme acts of misconduct."

The full competitive ruling for Vasilii can be read here.