I was the staff member that ended up banning you and your friend.
First off - You knew exactly what you were doing and you were not afk, In the clip you can clearly see you coming back life and see on your screen that you were tied, Seeing the player tie up your friend. You start to back away and make a break for it. Once the player starts to catch up to you in-order to grab you. That's when you decided to leave the game. Then your friend promptly did the same, Rejoining the game all within a few minutes.
To answer your second point, If there is only 8 - 10 people on the server there is no "down time" / "no point to roleplay because no ones on". Actually id argue that its even worse to ruin someone's roleplay during these lower pop times, because it is challenging already to initiate decent roleplay or find players to interact with.
another UA member will make a decision on this appeal.