Euroleague Basketball on Thursday announced a penalty on Mr. Dimitris Giannakopoulos of Panathinaikos Superfoods Athens on the basis of non-compliance with a previous sanction issued by the organization’s Independent Disciplinary Judge and modified by its Appeals Judge. The rulings were handed down based on statements directed at Turkish Airlines EuroLeague fans that were made public by Mr. Giannakopoulos and judged to be detrimental to the sport of basketball.
At the end of the appeals process, Mr. Giannakopoulos was sanctioned with a five-month ban from arenas where Euroleague Basketball competitions are being played, until June 30, 2018, as well as an accessory fine of €60,000.
The new penalty being announced now concerns the fact that Mr. Giannakopoulos disregarded the ban while attending the Game 1 of the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Playoffs at Olympic Sports Center Athens between Panathinaikos and Real Madrid.
Article 23 of the Euroleague Basketball Disciplinary Code, which is titled “Honouring of Sanctions”, states that non-compliance with decisions of the Independent Disciplinary Judge and Appeals Judge, among others, “will be considered an additional infringement” to be penalized with fines of between €30,001 and €280,000.
Mr. Giannakopoulos was previously fined €60,000 for non-compliance with the ban while once, after he attended the Round 24 game between Panathinaikos and Olympiacos Piraeus.
This time, Mr. Giannakopoulos has been notified by Euroleague Basketball of an additional fine of €120,000 in the form of a penalty for not complying again with the ban from Euroleague Basketball arenas, which remains in force.
Source: EuroLeague
