KAE AEK: “We are going to CAS for the punishment – We are asking for Hapoel’s punishment – EEC should show sensitivity”

We congratulate Hapoel Jerusalem for qualifying for the F4 of the BCL 2022-2023, however, we expect FIBA ​​and the relevant institutions to take action for what our Team’s mission experienced in Israel, on the sidelines and in the context of the 3rd match Hapoel – AEK for the BCL quarter-finals.

We demand the exemplary punishment of Hapoel and its two hooligan high-ranking agents/executives, for events that took place after the 2nd match, but also before and during the 3rd match. Any non-punishment or light punishment of them will constitute a scandal!

We expect the Hellenic Basketball Federation to show similar sensitivity, as in the case of the events of the 2nd match with Hapoel, and to publicly and unequivocally condemn what happened in the 3rd match, in Jerusalem, which was unprecedented for a European match.

Our group was a victim of terrorism and violence in Jerusalem. It was an orchestrated attempt to intimidate and influence our athletes, and the other members of the competition department, the organization of which was undertaken by the Hapoel Administration itself.

The attack on the mission hotel at 3 a.m., on the day of the match, by Hapoel fans (who claimed responsibility by posting a video of their act on the Internet), with kegs and firecrackers, constitutes an act that turns Basketball back centuries, while the our athletes and coaches were forced sleepless and tired to train in the morning and compete in the evening.

The jungle conditions on the pitch, before, during and after the match, were unprecedented, and it was only by luck that no injury was caused, from the barrage of objects thrown at our bench, from the bullying of our players and staff by Hapoel fans. Our bench was in a suffocating cord, people from the so-called security (since there was no real security and no police measure of order) and fans of the home team, with the consequence that the instructions of our coach in some cases were given inside the playing area. The photographic and television documents prove the truth of the word.

Shortly before the end of the match, an executive of our Team was attacked (from behind) by a high-ranking agent (! ) of Hapoel, as well as other executives of the home team.

We denounce to the sports fans the false blackmail of Hapoel towards the BCL, before the announcement of the penalty and also after it for a possible move to the Eurocup. Practices, which find us opposite, and which we have never implemented during our tenure and for any reason.

Insults and slogans against our Association and against our athletes on the field, in announcements, anywhere, do not honor the organization, however, they are not going to deter us.

We categorically state that we do not allow anyone to question the values ​​and ideals that our founders and ancestors bequeathed to us, as well as the democratic ideals of our followers. Both AEK BC (of Byzantine-born and refugee origin) and its followers, in the vast majority of them, have taken the lead in social contribution actions, supporting refugees everywhere and embracing all our fellow human beings, of all nationalities and all religions, always respecting diversity and secularism, and this cannot be disputed.

The non-stopping of the match by the referees constitutes yet another very serious violation of the ridiculous things that happened in Jerusalem and which came as a continuation of the fake news of the people of Hapoel, all the previous period and also the threats against the life of our athlete Akil Mitchell , as he himself admitted yesterday with his personal intervention/revelation on the Internet.

Is the Mitchell case really going to be investigated by the BCL or some prosecution?

And something else: We apologized to Hapoel for our part of the responsibility for the second match. Will the Hapoel Management apologize for everything that happened in the third match?

We point out for the sake of history, that in the Ano Liosion match our fans respected the mission of the Hapoel team in all cases, while there was full security on their bench from AEK BC throughout the match, unlike 3rd match of Jerusalem, where our team was left defenseless in the moods of fanatical fans and other run-of-the-mill thugs inside and outside the Hapoel Administration.

AEK BC has proven that it knows how to lose. He proved it in both the title period and the non-title period. He does not intend, however, to lay down his arms, or to remain silent before the one and only truth. Hapoel applying the “Ovidian” expression “the end justifies the means”, used all this time every unholy method exerting pressure in every direction, and circumventing every concept of law. On the contrary, we chose not to add fuel to the fire of polarization, even at the cost of our unfair and heavy punishment by the FIBA ​​sports judge.

AEK BC informs that today (Friday, 21/04) it will file an appeal against the first instance decision at the Lausanne Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).