According to the indictment, in October 2022, in Mālpils, Romals drunkenly attacked three Ukrainians, two men and a woman, tried to punch them and shouted: "Putin is right to kill Ukrainians! We should nuke the Ukrainians. The Ukrainians are [expletive]. Praise the [expletive]."
One of the victims, 22-year-old Maksim, testified that he has been in Latvia since February 25 2022. He used to live near Lviv and came to visit his mother's sister in Latvia right after the war started. He was discharged from the Ukrainian army for health reasons. He now lives in Mālpils and works in the information technology sector. Before the incident, he and Romals had never had any conflicts.
The female victim said that she had told the accused that if he apologized for his actions, she would not report him to the police and would forgive him, but he had not apologized. "People are dying in Ukraine, but Romals supports it, calls Ukrainians [expletive], that's what I am, like 'my President Zelensky'. It is very painful for me to hear this, because my sister went to war willingly, my disabled brother went to the front where he stayed for a year and a half, my sister's son also fought for his homeland," the woman added.
At the time of the conflict, Romals had been drinking heavily for several days in a row, the newspaper said, citing testimonies.
Romals chose to appear before the court without a lawyer.
In court, Romal refused to testify. He had previously denied to the police that he had cursed at Ukrainians, or that he did not remember doing so because he was drunk.
During the debate, the prosecutor asked for Romals to be sentenced to two years and six months in prison, as well as two years of probation supervision. After hearing this, Romals asked the court to forgive him, said that he regretted what he had done and that he did not deserve such a heavy sentence because he was not on the side of Russia or Ukraine, but was "for world peace". After the hearing, the prosecutor told the newspaper that if the accused had already repented during the investigation and asked not to stand trial, she might have asked only for a suspended prison sentence.
Romals was not arrested in the courtroom after the verdict. The verdict can be appealed.
